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LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,     N.    J. 


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THE 


tJNITED  STATES 


LIGHT  OF  PROPHECY 


OR, 


AN  EXPOSITION  OF  REV,  13:11-17. 


By    URIAH     SMITH- 


"  And  he  doeth  great  wonders,  so  that  he  maketh  fire  come  down 
from  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the  sisjht  of  men."— Rev.  13  :  13. 


FOURTH  EDITION.    REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


SEVENTH-DAY  ADVENTIST 

PUBLISHING     ASSOCIATION, 

BATTLE    CREEK,  MICH. 

i884. 


PREFACE, 


If  we  read  the  signs  of  the  times  aright,  events  are 
soon  to  transpire  of  such  a  nature  as  to  preclude  the 
necessity  of  any  apology  for  the  publication  of  what  is 
contained  in  the  following  pages.  The  numerous  lines 
of  prophecy  recorded  in  the  inspired  volume,  spanning 
many  ages  and  embracing  many  lands,  seem  to  find  their 
focal  point  in  our  own  times  and  in  our  own  country. 
The  present  age  is  illuminated  in  this  respect  above  all 
others.  Here  we  find  the  most  emphatic  touches  of  the 
prophetic  pencil.  The  events  to  transpire,  and  the 
agents  therein  concerned,  are  brought  out  in  a  vivid  and 
startling  light. 

The  question  naturally  arises.  What  part  has  the  United 
States  to  act  in  these  scenes  ?  for  it  must  seem  reasona- 
ble and  probable  that  a  nation  which  has  arisen  so  sud- 
denly as  ours,  made  such  unparalleled  f)rogress,  and  at- 
tained to  such  a  pinnacle  of  greatness  and  power,  must  be 
a  subject  of  divine  prophecy,  or  at  least  of  divine  provi- 
dence. 

To  this  question  the  following  pages  undertake  to  give 
a  brief  but  scriptural,  and  so  a  reasonable  and  conclusive, 
answer  ;  and  to  such  only  as  do  not  believe  that  God 
ever  foretells  the  history  of  nations,  or  that  his  provi- 
dence ever  works  in  their  development  and  decline,  can 
the  subject  fail  to  be  one  of  interest, 


VI  PREFACE. 


That  this  little  treatise  is  exhaustive  of  the  subject  is 
not  claimed ;  but  some  facts  are  presented  which  are 
thought  to  be  worthy  of  serious  consideration;  and  enough 
evidence,  we  trust,  is  produced  in  favor  of  the  position 
taken  to  show  the  reader  that  the  subject  is  not  one  of 
mere  theory,  but  is  of  the  highest  practical  importance, 
and  so  enough  to  stimulate  thought  and  lead  to  further 
inquiry. 

If  the  position  here  taken  be  correct,  this  subject  is  to 
be  one  of  continually  increasing  interest;  and  information 
respecting  it  is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  our 
duties  and  responsibilities  in  the  solemn  and  important 
times  that  are  upon  us.  It  is  in  this  light  that  we  es- 
pecially  commend   it   to  the   serious   consideration   qf   the 

reader. 

U.   S. 
Battle  Creek,  Mich  ,  May,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PROBABILITIES    CONSIDERED pageS  9-20 

CHAPTER    II. 

A   CHAIN   OF   PROPHECY 21-31 

CHAPTER    III. 

LOCATION   OF   THE    TWO-HORNED    BEAST 32-41 

CHAPTER    lY. 

CHRONOLOGY    OF    THE    TWO-HORNED    BEAST      .       ,       ,       .       42-52 

CHAPTER    Y. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  HAS  ARISEN  IN  THE  EXACT 
MANNER  IN  WHICH  JOHN  SAW  THE  TWO-HORNED 
BEAST    COMING    UP 53-94 

CHAPTER    YI. 

CHARACTER    OF    THE     GOVERNMENT     REPRESENTED     BY 

THE    TWO-HORNED     BEAST 95-103 

CHAPTER    YII. 

THE    DRAGON    VOICE 104-1 14 

CHAPTER    YIII. 

HE   DOETH    GREAT   WONDERS 115-127 

[Vii] 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

AN   IMAGE    TO    THE    BEAST 128-138 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE    MARK    OF    THE    BEAST 139-158 

CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    BEGINNING   OF   THE    END 159-225 


THE 

UNITED     STATES 


IN     THE 


LIGHT  OF  PROPHECY. 


PROBABILITIES    CONSIDERED. 

IT  is  but  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  since 
the  nation  kijown  as  "  The  United  States  of 
America"  began  to  exist.  Rome,  when  it  had  at- 
tained the  age  of  a  hundred  years,  was  scarcely 
known  outside  the  few  provinces  of  Italy  which  com- 
posed its  territory.  Not  so  with  this  new  empire  of 
the  West.  Ere  a  hundred  years  had  elapsed,  its 
fame  had  encircled  the  earth,  exciting  the  wonder 
and  the  envy  of  aged  and  stagnant  kingdoms. 
It  began  with  a  few  small  settlements  of  earnest 
men,  who,  fleeing  from  the  religious  intolerance  of 
the  Old  World,  occupied  a  narrow  strip  of  coast- 
line on  our  Atlantic  border.  Now,  a  mighty  nation, 
with  a  vast  expanse  of  territory  stretching  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  regions  almost  arctic  on  tlie 
north   to  regions  equally  torrid  on  the  south,  em- 

m 


10  THE    UNITED   STATES    IX   PROPHECY. 

bracing  more  square  leagues  of  habitable  land  than 
Rome  ruled  over  in  its  palmiest  days,  after  more 
than  seven  centuries  of  growth,  here  holds  a  position 
of  independence  and  glory  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 

And  the  sound  of  this  new  nation  has  gone  into 
all  the  world.  It  has  reached  the  toiling  millions  of 
Europe ;  and ,  they  are  s-\varming  to  our  shores  to 
share  its  blessingfs.  It  has  o^one  to  the  islands  of  the 
sea;  and  they  have  sent  their  living  contributions. 
It  has  reached  the  Orient,  and  opened,  as  Avith  a  pass- 
word, the  gates  of  nations  long  barred  against  inter- 
course with  other  powers;  and  China  and  Japan, 
turning  from  their  beaten  track  of  forty  centuries, 
are  looking  with  Avonder  at  the  prodigy  arising 
across  the  Pacific  to  the  east  of  them,  and  catching 
some  of  the  impulse  -which  this  growing  power  is 
imparting  to  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Precisely  one  hundred  and  seven  years  ago,  with 
three  millions  of  people,  the  United  States  became 
an  independent  government.  It  has  now  a  popula- 
tion of  over  fifty  millions  of  people,  and  a  territory 
of  three  and  a  half  millions  of  square  miles.  Russia 
alone  exceeds  this  nation  in  these  particulars,  having 
thirty  millions  more  of  people,  and  four  millions 
more  square  miles  of  territory.  Of  all  other  nations 
on  the  globe  whose  law^s  arc  framed  by  legislative 
bodies  elected  by  the  people,  Brazil,  which  has  the 
largest  territory,  has  not  (^uite  three  millions  of 
squnre  miles;  and  France,  tlic  most  p()])idous,  has 
not  by  many  millions  so  great  a  number  of  inhabit- 


PROBABILITIES    CONSIDERED.  .  11 

ants  as  our  country.  So  that  in  point  of  territory 
and  population  combined,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
United  States  now  stands  at  the  head  of  the  self-gov- 
erning powers  of  the  earth. 

Occupying  a  position  altogether  unique,  this  gov- 
ernment excites  equally  the  astonishment  and  the  ad- 
miration of  all  beholders.  The  main  features  of  its 
history  are  such  as  have  had  no  parallel  since  the 
distinction  of  nations  existed  among  men. 

1.  No  nation  ever  acquired  so  vast  a  territory  in 
so  quiet  a  manner. 

2.  No  nation  ever  rose  to  such  greatness  by  means 
so  peaceable. 

3.  No  nation  ever  advanced  so  rapidly  in  all  that 
constitutes  national  strength  and  capital. 

4.  No  nation  ever  rose  to  such  a  pinnacle  of  power 
in  a  space  of  time  so  infcredibly  short. 

5.  No  nation  in  so  limited  a  time  has  developed 
such  unlimited  resources. 

6.  No  nation  has  ever  existed  the  foundations  of 
whose  government  were  laid  so  broad  and  deep  in 
the  principles  of  justice,  righteousness,  and  truth. 

7.  No  nation  has  ever  existed  in  which  men  have 
been  left  so  free  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  their  own  consciences. 

8.  In  no  nation  and  in  no  age  of  the  world  have 
the  arts  and  sciences  so  flourished,  so  many  improve- 
ments been  made,  and  so  great  successes  been 
achieved  in  the  arts  both  of  peace  and  war,  as  in 
our  own  country  during  the  last  fifty  years. 

9.  In  no  nation  and  in  no   age   has   the   gospel 


12  .  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

found  such  freedom,  and  the  churches  of  Christ  had 
such  Hberty  to  enlarge  their  borders  and  develop  their 
strength. 

10.  No  age  of  the  world  has  seen  such  an  immi- 
gration as  that  which  is  now  pouring  into  our  bor- 
ders from  ail  lands  the  millions  who  have  long 
groaned  under  despotic  governments,  and  who  now 
turn  to  this  broad  territory  of  freedom  as  the  avenue 
of  hope,  the  Utopia  of  the  nations. 

The  most  discerning  minds  have  been  intuitively 
impressed  with  the  idea  of  the  future  gi^eatness  and 
power  of  this  government.  In  view  of  the  grand 
results  developed  and  developing,  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus,  not  four  hundred  years  ago, 
is  set  down  as  the  greatest  event  of  all  secular  his- 
tory. 

The  progress  of  empire  to  this  land  was  long 
ago  expected. 

Sir  Thomas  Brown,  in  1682,  predicted  the  growth 
of  a  power  here  which  would  rival  the  European 
kingdoms  in  strength  and  prowess. 

In  Burnaby's  "  Travels  through  the  Middle  Settle- 
ments of  North  America  in  1759  and  1760,"  pub- 
lished in  1775,  is  expressed  this  sentiment: — 

"  An  idea,  strange  as  it  is  visionary,  has  entered  into 
the  minds  of  the  generality  of  mankind,  that  empire  is 
traveling  westward ;  and  every  one  is  looking  forward 
with  eager  and  impatient  expectation  to  that  destined 
moment  when  America  is  to  give  the  law  to  the  rest  of 
the  world." 


PKOBABILITIES   CONSIDERED.  13 

John  Adams,  Oct.  12,  1775,  wrote: — 

"  Soon  after  tlie  Reformation,  a  few  people  came  over 
into  this  New  World  for  conscience'  sake.  Perhaps  this 
apparently  trivial  incident  may  transfer  the  great  seat  of 
empire  to  America." 

On  the  day  after  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  he  wrote: — 

"  Yesterday  the  greatest  question  was  decided  which 
was  ever  debated  in  America,  and  a  greater,  perhaps, 
never  was,  nor  will  be,  decided  among  men." 

In  1776,  Galiani,  a  Neapolitan,  predicted  the 
gradual  decay  of  European  institutions,  to  renew 
themselves  in  America.  In  1778,  in  reference  to  the 
question  as  to  which  was  to  be  the  ruling  power  in 
the  world,  Europe  or  America,  he  said, — 

"I  will  wager  in  favor  of  America." 

Adam  Smith,  of  Scotland,  in  1776,  predicted  the 
transfer  of  empire  to  America. 

Governor  Pownal,  an  English  statesman,  in  1780, 
while  our  Revolution  was  in  progress,  predicted  that 
this  country  would  become  independent,  and  that  a 
civilizing  activity,  beyond  what  Europe  could  ever 
know,  would  animate  it;  and  that  its  commercial 
and  naval  power  would  be  found  in  every  quarter 
of  the  globe.     Again  he  said: — 

"North  America  has  advanced,  and  is  every  day  ad- 
vancmg,  to  growth  of  state,  with  a  steady  and  continually 
accelerating  motion,  of  which  there  has  never  yet  been 
any  example  in  Euroi)c." 


14  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

David  Hartley  wrote  from  England  in  1777:— 

"  At  sea^  which  has  hithei'to  been  our  jirerogative  ele- 
ment, they  [the  United  States]  rise  against  us  at  a  stu- 
pendous i-ate;  and  if  we  cannot  return  to  our  old  mutual 
hospitalities  toward  each  other,  a  very  few  years  will 
show  us  a  most  formidable  hostile  marine,  ready  to  join 
hands  with  any  of  our  enemies." 

Count  d'Aranda,  one  of  the  first  of  Spanish  states- 
men, in  1783  thus  wrote  of  this  Republic: — 

"  This  Federal  Republic  was  born  a  pygmy,  so  to  speak. 
It  requii-ed  the  support  and  forces  of  two  powers  as  great 
as  Spain  and  France  in  order  to  attain  independence.  A 
day  will  come  when  it  will  be  a  giant,  even  a  colossus^ 
formidable  in  these  countries."  * 

Of  these  prophecies,  some  are  now  wholly  fulfilled, 
and  the  remainder  far  on  the  road  to  fulfillment.  This 
infant  of  yesterday  stands  forth  to-day  a  giant,  vig- 
orous, active,  and  courageous,  and  accepts  with  dig- 
nity its  manifest  destiny  at  the  head  of  powers  and 
civilizations. 

A  question  of  thrilling  interest  now  arises.  This 
government  has  received  recognition  at  the  hands  of 
men  sufiicient  to  satisfy  any  ambition.  Does  the 
God  of  Heaven  also  recognize  it,  and  has  he  spoken 
concerning  it  ?  In  other  words,  does  the  prophetic 
pen,  which  has  so  fully  delineated  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  all  the  other  great  nations  of  the  earth,  pass 

*  These  quotations  are  from  an  article  by  Hon.  Charles  Sumner, 
entitled,  "Prophetic  Voices  about  America."  published  in  the  Atlait- 
tic  Monthlij  of  September,  1807. 


PHOBABILITIES   CONHIDERED.  lo 

this  one  by  unnoticed  ?  What  are  the  probabihties 
in  this  mattei'  ?  As  the  student  of  prophecy,  in 
common  with  all  mankind,  looks  with  wonder  upon 
the  unparalleled  rise  and  progress  of  this  nation,  he 
cannot  repress  the  conviction  that  the  hand  of  Prov- 
idence has  been  at  work  in  this  quiet  but  mighty 
revolution.  And  this  conviction  he  shares  in  com- 
mon with  others. 

Governor  Pownal,  from  whom  a  quotation  has  al- 
ready been  presented,  speaking  of  the  establish- 
ment of  this  country  as  a  free  and  sovereign  power, 
calls  it — 

"  A  revolution  that  has  stranger  marks  of  divine  inter- 
position superseding  the  ordinary  course  of  human  af- 
fau's,  than  any  other  event  which  this  world  has  experi- 
enced." 

De  Tocqueville,  a  French  writer,  speaking  of  our 
separation  from  England,  says: — 

"  It  might  seem  their  folly,  but  was  really  their  fate; 
or,  rather,  the  providence  of  God,  who  has  doubtless  a 
work  for  them  to  do  in  which  the  massive  materiality  of 
the  English  character  would  have  been  too  ponderous  a 
dead  weight  upon  their  progress." 

Geo.  Alfred  Townsend,  speaking  of  the  misfortunes 
that  have  attended  the  other  governments  on  this 
continent  (''New  World  and  Old,"  p.  635),  says:— 

"  The  history  of  the  United  States  was  separated  by  a 
beneficent  Providence  far  from  the  wild  and  cruel  his- 
tory of  the  rest  of  the  continent." 

Again  he  says: — 


16  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PHOPHECY. 

"This  heinis})liere  was  laid  away  for  no  one  race." 

Mr.  J.  M.  Foster,  in  a  sermon  before  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Cincinnati,  O.,  Nov.  30, 1882, 
bore  the  following  explicit  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
the  hand  of  Providence  has  been  remarkably  dis- 
played in  the  establishment  of  this  government: — 

"  Let  us  look  at  the  history  of  our  own  nation.  The 
Mediator  long  ages  ago  prepared  this  land  as  the  home 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  He  made  it  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey.  He  stored  our  mountains  with 
coal,  and  iron,  and  copper,  and  silver,  and  gold.  He 
prepared  our  fountains  of  oil,  planted  our  forests,  leveled 
our  plains,  enriched  our  valleys,  and  beautified  them 
with  lakes  and  rivers.  He  guided  the  Mayflower  over 
the  sea,  so  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathei-s  landed  safely  on 
Plymouth  Pock.  He  directed  the  course  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, so  that  we  have  become  a  great  nation." 

'  If  Providence  has  been  thus  conspicuously  present 
in  our  history,  we  may  look  for  some  mention  of 
this  government  in  that  Book  which  records  the 
workings  of  Providence  among  mankind.  On  what 
conditions  have  other  nations  found  a  place  in  the 
prophetic  record  ?  First,  if  they  have  acted  any 
prominent  part  in  the  world's  history ;  and  secondly, 
and  above  all,  if  they  have  had  jurisdiction  over,  or 
maintained  any  relations  with,  the  people  of  God. 
In  the  recoi'ds  of  the  Bible  and  the  records  of  secular 
history,  we  find  data  from  which  to  deduce  this  rule 
respecting  the  prophetic  mention  of  earthly  govern- 
ments; namely.  Whenever   the   relations  of   God's 


PROBABILITIES   CONSIDERED.  17 

people  to  any  nation  are  such  that  a  true  history  of 
the  former,  which  is  the  object  of  all  revelation,  could 
not  be  given  without  a  notice  of  the  latter,  such  na- 
tion is  mentioned  in  prophecy. 

And  all  these  conditions  are  certainly  fulfilled  in 
our  government.  No  nation  has  ever  attracted 
more  attention,  excited  more  profound  wonder,  or 
given  promise  of  greater  eminence  or  influence. 
And  certainly  here,  if  anywhere  on  the  globe,  are  to 
be  found  a  strong  array  of  Christians,  such  as  are 
the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  world, 
whose  history  could  not  be  written  without  mention 
of  that  government  under  which  they  live  and  en- 
joy their  liberty. 

With  these  probabilities  in  our  favor,  let  us  now 
take  a  brief  survey  of  those  symbols  found  in  the 
word  of  God  which  represent  earthly  governments. 
These  are  found  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  in  the  books 
of  Daniel  and  the  Revelation.  In  Dan.  2,  a  symbol  is 
introduced  in  the  form  of  a  great  image,  consisting 
of  four  parts, — gold,  silver,  brass,  and  iron, — which  is 
finally  dashed  to  atoms,  and  a  great  mountain,  tak- 
ing its  place,  fills  the  whole  earth.  In  Dan.  7,  we 
find  a  lion,  a  bear,  a  leopard,  and  a  great  and  terri- 
ble nondescript  beast,  which,  after  passing  through 
a  new  and  remarkable  phase,  goes  into  the  lake  of 
fire.  In  Dan.  8,  we  have  a  ram,  a  he-goat,  and  a 
horn,  little  at  first,  but  waxing  exceeding  great.  In 
Rev.  9,  we  have  locusts  like  unto  horses.  In 
Rev.  12,  we  have  a  great  red  dragon.  In  Rev.  13, 
we  have  a  blasphemous  leopard  beast,  and  a  beast 


18  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

with  two  horns  hke  a  lamb.  In  Rev.  17,  we  have 
a  scarlet-colored  beast,  upon  which  a  woman  sits 
holding  in  her  hand  a  golden  cup,  full  of  filthiness 
and  abomination. 

What  governments  and  what  powers  are  repre- 
sented by  all  these?  Do  any  of  them  symbolize  our 
own  ?  Some  of  them  certainly  represent  earthly 
kingdoms,  for  so  the  prophecies  themselves  ex- 
pressly inform  us ;  and  in  the  application  of  nearly 
all  of  them  there  is  quite  a  uniform  agreement 
among  expositors.  The  four  parts  of  the  great  im- 
age of  Dan.  2  represent  four  kingdoms, — Babylon,  or 
Chaldea,  Medo-Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome.  The  lion 
of  the  seventh  chapter  also  represents  Babylon;  the 
bear,  Medo-Persia;  the  leopard,  Grecia;  and  the 
great  and  terrible  beast,  Rome.  The  horn  with 
human  eyes  and  mouth,  which  appears  in  the  sec- 
ond phase  of  this  beast,  represents  the  papacy,  and 
covers  its  history  down  to  the  time  when  it  was 
temporarily  overthrown  by  the  French  in  1798. 
In  Dan.  8,  likewise,  the  ram  represents  Medo-Per- 
sia; the  he-goat,  Grecia;  and  the  little  horn,  Rome. 
All  these  have  a  very  clear  and  definite  application 
to  the  governments  named ;  none  of  them  thus  far 
can  have  any  reference  to  the  United  States. 

The  symbols  brought  to  view  in  Rev.  9,  all  are 
agreed  in  applying  to  the  Saracens  and  Turks. 
The  dragon  of  Rev.  12  is  the  acknowledged  sym- 
bol of  Pagan  Rome.  The  leopard  beast  of  Rev.  13 
can  be  shown  to  be  identical  with  the  eleventh  horn 
of  the  fourth  beast  of  Dan.  7,  and  hence  to  symbol- 


PROBABILITIES   CONSIDERED.  19 

ize  the  papacy.  The  scarlet  beast  and  woman  of 
Rev.  17  as  evidently  apply  also  to  Rome  under  pa- 
pal rule,  the  symbols  having  especial  reference  to 
the  distinction  between  the  civil  power  and  the  ec- 
clesiastical, the  one  being  represented  by  the  beast, 
the  other  by  the  woman  seated  thereon. 

There  is  one  symbol  left,  and  that  is  the  two- 
horned  beast  of  Rev.  18.  On  this  there  is  more 
difference  of  opinion;  and  before  seeking  for  an 
application,  let  us  look  at  the  ground  covered  by 
those  already  examined.  Babylon  and  Medo-Persia 
covered  all  the  civilized  portion  of  Asia.  Greece 
covered  Eastern  Europe,  including  Russia.  Rome, 
with  the  ten  kingdoms  into  which  it  was  divided, 
as  represented  by  the  ten  toes  of  the  image,  the  ten 
horns  of  the  fourth  beast  of  Dan.  7,  the  ten  horns  of 
the  dragon  of  Rev.  12,  and  the  ten  horns  of  the  leop- 
ard beast  of  Rev.  18,  covered  all  Western  Europe. 
In  other  words,  all  the  civilized  portion  of  the  east- 
ern hemisphere  is  absorbed  by  the  symbols  already 
examined,  respecting  the  application  of  which  there  is 
scarcely  any  room  for  doubt. 

But  there  is  a  mighty  nation  in  this  western  hem- 
isphere, worthy,  as  we  have  seen,  of  being  mentioned 
in  prophecy,  which  is  not  yet  brought  in ;  and  there 
is  one  symbol  remaining  the  application  of  which 
has  not  yet  been  made.  All  the  symbols  but  one 
are  applied,  and  all  the  available  portions  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere  are  covered  by  the  applications. 
Of  all  the  symbols  mentioned,  one  alone — the  two- 
horned  beast  of  Rev.  13 — is  left;  and  of  all  the  court- 


20  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PEOPHECY. 

tries  of  the  earth  respecting  which  any  reason  exists 
why  they  should  be  mentioned  in  prophecy,  one 
alone — our  own  government — remains.  Do  the  two- 
homed  beast  and  the  United  States  belong  together  ? 
If  they  do,  then  all  the  symbols  find  an  application, 
and  all  the  ground  is  covered.  If  they  do  not,  it 
follows,  first,  that  the  United  States  is  not  repre- 
sented in  prophecy ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  symbol 
of  the  two-horned  beast  finds  no  government  to 
which  it  can  apply.  But  the  first  of  these  supposi- 
tions is  not  probable,  and  the  second  is  not  possible. 


A    CHAIN    OF    PROPHECY- 

LET  us  now  enter  upon  a  more  particular  exami- 
nation of  the  second  symbol  of  Rev,  13,  with  a 
view  to  determining  its  application  with  greater 
certainty.  What  is  said  respecting  this  symbol — 
the  beast  with  two  horns  like  a  lamb — is  not  an  iso- 
lated and  independent  prophecy,  but  is  connected 
with  what  precedes;  and  the  symbol  itself  is  but 
one  of  a  series.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  examine 
briefly  the  preceding  symbols,  since  if  we  are  able  to 
make  a  satisfactory  application  of  them,  it  will 
guide  us  in  the  interpretation  of  this. 

The  line  of  prophecy  of  which  this  forms  a  part 
commences  with  Rev.  1 2.  The  book  of  the  Revelation 
is  evidently  not  one  consecutive  prophecy  of  events 
to  transpire  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the 
gospel  dispensation,  but  is  composed  of  a  series  of 
prophetic  lines,  each  taking  up  its  own  class  of 
events,  and  tracing  them  through  from  the  days  of 
the  prophet  to  the  end  of  time;  and  when  one  line 
of  prophecy  is  completed,  another  is  taken  up.  That 
a  new  series  of  prophetic  events  is  introduced  in  Rev. 
12,  is  evident;  since  in  the  preceding  chapter  a  line 
of  prophecy  is  completed,  bringing  us  down  to  the 
great  day  of  God's  wrath,  the  judgment  of  the  dead^ 

[21] 


22  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

and  the  eternal  reward  of  those  that  fear  God  and 
revere  his  name.  No  line  of  prophecy  can  go 
further;  and  any  events  to  transpire  in  probation, 
subsequently  mentioned,  must  of  course  belong  to  a 
new  series. 

Commencing,  then,  with  chapter  1 2,  how  far  does 
this  line  of  prophecy  extend  ?  The  first  symbol  in- 
troduced which  can  be  applied  to  an  earthly  gov- 
ernment, is  the  great  red  dragon.  The  second  is  the 
beast  of  Rev.  13,  which,  having  the  body  of  a  leopard, 
we  shall,  for  brevity's  sake,  call  the  leopard  beast.  To 
this  beast  the  dragon  gives  his  seat,  power,  and 
great  authority.  This  beast,  then,  is  connected  with 
the  dragon,  and  belongs  to  this  line  of  prophecy. 
The  third  symbol  is  the  two-horned  beast  of  Rev. 
13.  This  beast  exercises  certain  power  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  leopard  beast,  and  causes  the  earth  and 
them  that  dwell  therein  to  worship  him.  This  beast, 
therefore,  is  connected  with  the  leopard  beast,  and 
hence  belongs  to  the  same  line  of  prophecy.  No 
conclusion  is  reached  in  chapter  13,  and  hence  the 
prophecy  is  not  there  completed.  Going  forward 
into  chapter  14,  we  find  a  company  brought  to  view 
who  are  redeemed  from  among  men  (which  can 
mean  nothing  else  than  translation  from  among  the 
living  at  the  second  coming  of  Christ);  and  they 
sing  a  song  before  the  throne  which  none  but  them- 
selves can  learn.  In  chapter  15,  we  have  a  company 
presented  before  us  who  have  gotten  the  victory  over 
the  beast,  his  image,  the  mark,  and  the  number  of 
his  name,  the  very  objects   brought  to  view  in  the 


A  CHAIN   OF   PROPHECY.  23 

concluding  portion  of  Rev.  18.  This  company  also 
sing  a  song,  even  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb ; 
and  they  sing  it  while  standing  upon  the  sea  of 
glass,  as  stated  in  verse  2.  Turning  to  chapter  4 :  6, 
we  learn  that  this  sea  of  glass  is  ''before  the  throne." 
The  conclusion,  therefore,  follows  that  those  who 
sing  before  the  throne,  in  chapter  14,  are  identical 
with  those  who  sing  on  the  sea  of  glass  (before  the 
throne),'  in  chapter  15,  inasmuch  as  they  stand  in  the 
same  place,  and  the  song  they  both  sing  is  the  first 
glad  song  of  actual  redemption.  But  the  declara- 
tions found  in  chapter  15  show  that  the  company  in- 
troduced in  the  opening  of  chapter  14  have  been  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  powers  brought  to  view  in 
the  closing  verses  of  chapter  13,  and  have  gained  the 
victory  over  them.  Being  thus  connected  with 
these  powers,  they  form  a  part  of  the  same  line  of 
prophecy.  But  here  this  line  of  prophecy  must  end, 
for  this  company  is  spoken  of  as  redeemed;  and  no 
line  of  prophecy,  as  already  noticed,  can  go  beyond 
the  eternal  state. 

The  line  of  prophecy  in  which  the  two-horned 
beast  stands,  is,  therefore,  one  which  is  very  clearly 
defined;  it  commences  with  chapter  12,  and  ends 
with  verse  5  of  chapter  14.  The  student  of  proph- 
ecy finds  it  one  of  vast  importance;  the  humble  child 
of  God,  one  of  transcendent  interest.  It  begins 
with  the  church,  and  ends  with  the  church, — the 
church,  at  first  in  humility,  trial,  and  distress;  at 
last,  in  victory,  exaltation,  and  glory.  This  is  the 
one  object  which  ever  appears  the  same  in  all  the 


24  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PHOPHECY. 

scenes  here  described,  and  whose  history  is  the  lead- 
ing theme  of  the  prophecy,  from  first  to  last. 
Trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  three  colossal  perse- 
cuting powers  here  brought  to  view,  the  followers  of 
Christ  for  long  ages  bow  their  heads  to  the  pitiless 
storm  of  oppression  and  persecution ;  but  the  end  re- 
pays them  all ;  for  John  beholds  them  at  last,  the 
storms  all  over,  their  conflicts  all  ended,  waving 
palm-branches  of  victory,  and  striking  on  harps  ce- 
lestial a  song  of  everlasting  triumph  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  heavenly  land. 

We  turn,  then,  to  the  inquiry,  What  power  is 
designated  by  the  great  red  dragon  of  chapter  12  ? 
The  chapter  first  speaks  of  a  woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head 
a  crown  of  twelve  stars.  A  woman  is  the  symbol 
of  the  church ;  a  lewd  woman  representing  a  corrupt 
or  apostate  church,  as  in  Eze.  23:2-4,  etc.,  which 
refers  to  the  Jewish  church  in  a  state  of  backsliding, 
and  in  Rev.  17:3-G,  15,  18,  which  refers  to  the 
apostate  Romish  church  ;  and  a  virtuous  woman 
representing  the  true  church,  as  in  the  verse  under 
consideration.  At  what  period  in  her  history  could 
the  church  be  properly  represented  as  here  described? 
Ans.  At  the  opening  of  the  gospel  dispensation,  and 
at  no  other  time ;  for  then  the  glory  of  this  dispen- 
sation, like  the  light  of  the  sun,  had  just  risen  upon 
her;  the  former  dispensation,  which,  like  the  moon, 
shone  with  a  borrowed  light,  had  just  passed,  and 
lay  beneath  her  feet ;  and  twelve  inspired  apostles, 
like  a  crown  of  twelve  stars,  graced  the  first  organi- 


A  CHAIN  OF   PROPHECY.  ^5 

zation  of  the  gospel  church.  To  this  period  these 
representations  can  apply,  but  to  no  other.  The 
prophet  antedates  this  period  a  little  by  referring  to 
the  time  when  the  church,  with  longing  expectation, 
was  awaiting  the  advent  into  this  world  of  the  glo- 
rious Redeemer. 

A  man  child,  here  represented  as  the  offspring  of 
this  woman,  appears  upon  the  stage.  This  child  was 
to  rule  all  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  was  caught 
up  to  God  and  his  throne.  Verse  5.  These  decla- 
rations are  true  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  of  no 
one  else.  See  Ps.  2:7-9;  Eph.  1:20,  21;  Heb.  8: 
1;  Kev.  3:  21.  There  is  therefore  no  mistaking  the 
time  when  the  scenes  here  described  took  place.  We 
mention  these  facts  for  the  purpose  of  identifying 
the  power  symbolized  by  the  dragon;  for  the  dragon 
stood  before  the  woman  to  devour  her  child  as  soon 
as  it  should  be  born.  Who  attempted  the  destruc- 
tion of  our  Lord  when  he  appeared  as  a  babe  in 
Bethlehem?  Herod.  And  who  was  Herod?  A  Ro- 
man governor.  Rome,  which  then  ruled  over  all 
the  earth  (Luke  2:1),  was  the  responsible  party  in 
this  transaction.  Rome  was  the  only  power  which 
at  this  time  could  be  symbolized  in  prophecy,  as  its 
dominion  was  universal.  It  is  not  without  good 
reason,  therefore,  that  Pagan  Rome  is  considered 
among  Protestant  commentators  to  be  the  power  in- 
dicated by  the  great  red  dragon.  And  it  may  be  a 
fact  worth  mentioning  that  during  the  second, 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era,  next  to  the  eagle  the  dragon  was  the  principal 


26  THE   UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

standard  of  the  Roman  legions,  and  that  dragon  was 
painted  red. 

There  is  but  one  objection  we  need  pause  to  an- 
swer before  passmg  to  the  next  symbol.  Is  not  the 
dragon  plainly  called  the  devil  and  Satan,  in  verse 
9?  How,  then,  can  the  term  "dragon"  be  applied 
to  Pagan  Rome?  That  it  is  primarily  applied  to  the 
devil,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt ;  but  that  it  should 
be  applied  also  to  some  of  his  chief  agents,  would 
seem  to  be  appropriate  and  unobjectionable.  Now 
Rome,  being  at  this  time  pagan,  and  the  supreme 
empire  of  the  world,  was  the  great  and  sole  agent  in 
the  hands  of  the  devil  for  carrying  out  his  purposes, 
so  far  as  they  pertamed  to  national  affairs.  Hence 
the  use  of  that  symbol  to  designate,  and  the  appli- 
cation of  that  term  to  describe,  the  Roman  power. 

The  next  symbol  to  engage  our  attention  is  the 
leopard  beast  of  chapter  13,  to  which  the  dragon 
gives  his  seat,  his  power,  and  great  authority.  It 
would  be  sufficient  on  this  point  simply  to  show  to 
what  power  the  dragon.  Pagan  Rome,  transferred 
its  seat  and  gave  its  power.  The  seat  of  any  gov- 
ernment is  certainly  its  capital  city.  The  city  of 
Rome  was  the  dragon's  seat.  But  in  A,  D.  330  Con- 
stantine  transferred  the  seat  of  empire  from  Rome 
to  Constantinople ;  and  Rome  was  given  up— to  what? 
to  decay,  desolation,  and  ruin?  No ;  but  to  become 
far  more  celebrated  than  it  had  ever  before  been, 
not  as  the  seat  of  pagan  emperors,  but  as  the  city  of 
St.  Peter's  pretended  successors,  the  seat  of  a  spirit- 
ual hierarchy  wliich  was  not  only  to  become  more 


A  CHAIN  OF   PROPHECY.  27 

powerful  than  any  secular  prince,  but  which,  through 
the  magic  of  its  fatal  sorcery,  was  to  exercise  domin- 
ion over  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Thus  was  Kome 
given  to  the  papacy;  and  the  decree  of  Justinian, 
issued  in  533,  and  carried  into  effect  in  538,  consti- 
tuting the  pope  the  head  of  all  the  churches  and  the 
corrector  of  heretics,  was  the  investing  of  the  papacy 
with  that  power  and  authority  which  the  prophet 
foresaw.     See  Croly  on  the  Apocalypse,  pp.  114,  115. 

It  is  very  evident,  therefore,  that  this  leopard 
beast  is  a  symbol  of  the  papacy.  But  there  are  other 
considerations  which  prove  this.  This  beast  has  the 
body  of  a  leopard,  the  mouth  pf  a  lion,  and  the  feet 
of  a  bear;  this  shows  it  to  be  some  power  which 
succeeded  those  three  beasts  of  Daniel's  prophecy, 
and  retained  some  of  the  characteristics  of  them  all, 
and  that  was  Rome.  But  this  is  not  the  first,  or 
pagan  form  of  the  Roman  government;  for  that  is 
represented  by  the  dragon;  and  this  is  the  form 
which  next  succeeded  that,  which  was  the  papal. 

But  what  most  clearly  shows  that  this  beast 
represents  the  papacy,  is  its  identity  with  the  little 
horn  of  the  fourth  beast  of  Dan.  7,  which  all  Prot- 
estants agree  -in  applying  to  the  papal  power. 

1.  Their  chronology.  After  the  great  and  terri- 
ble beast  of  Dan.  7,  which  represents  Rome  in  its 
first,  or  pagan  form,  is  fully  developed,  even  to  the 
existence  of  the  ten  horns,  or  the  division  of  the 
Roman  empire  into  ten  parts,  the  little  horn  arises. 
Verse  24.  The  leopard  beast  likewise  succeeds  the 
dragon,  which  also  represents  Rome  in   its   pagan 


28  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECt. 

form.  These  powers  appear  therefore  upon  the  stage 
of  action  at  the  same  time;  i.  e.,  next  after  the  dec- 
adal division  of  the  Roman  empire,  as  shown  by 
the  ten  horns  of  Daniel's  fourth  beast,  and  after  its 
division  into  ten  parts,  symbolized  by  the  ten  horns 
of  the  dragon. 

2.  Their  location.  The  little  horn  plucked  up 
three  horns  to  make  way  for  itself.  The  last  of 
these,  the  Gothic  horn,  was  plucked  up  when  the 
Goths  were  driven  from  Rome  in  538,  and  the  city 
was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  little  horn,  which  has 
ever  since  held  it  as  the  seat  of  its  power.  To  the 
leopard  beast,  also,  the  dragon  gave  its  seat,  the  city 
of  Rome.  They  therefore  occupy  the  same  loca- 
tion. 

3.  Their  character.  The  little  horn  is  a  blas- 
phemous power;  for  it  speaks  great  words  against 
the  Most  High.  Dan.  7:25.  The  leopard  beast  is 
also  a  blasphemous  power ;  for  it  bears  upon  its  head 
the  name  of  blasphemy;  it  has  a  mouth  speaking 
great  things  and  blasphemies ;  and  he  opens  his 
mouth  in  blasphemy  against  God  to  blaspheme  his 
name,  and  his  tabernacle,  and  them  that  dwell  in 
Heaven.  Rev.  13:  1,  5,  6.  Therefore,  they  both 
maintain  exactly  the  same  character. 

4.  Their  work.  The  little  horn,  by  a  long  and 
heartless  course  of  oppression  against  the  saints  of 
the  Most  High,  wears  them  out;  and  they  are  given 
into  his  hand.  Dan.  7:25.  He  makes  war  against 
them,  and  prevails.  Verse  21.  The  leopard  beast 
also  makes  war  upon   the   saints,    and   overcomes 


A   CHAIN   OF    PROPHECY.  29 

them.      Eev.  13:7.      This  shows  that  they  do  the 
same  work,  and  against  the  same  class  of  people. 

5.  The  time  of  their  continuance.  Power  was 
given  to  the  little  horn  to  continue  a  "time  and 
times  and  the  dividing  of  time."  Dan.  7:25.  A 
time  in  Scripture  phraseology  is  one  year.  Dan.  4 :  25. 
(The  "seven  times"  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  humilia- 
tion, Josephus  informs  us,  were  seven  years.)  Times, 
that  is  two  times,  the  least  that  can  be  expressed  by 
the  plural,  would  be  two  years  more ;  and  the  divid- 
ing of  time,  or  half  a  time,  half  a  year,  making  in 
all  three  years  and  a  half.  To  the  leopard  beast 
power  was  also  given  to  continue  forty-two  months, 
which,  at  twelve  months  to  the  year,  gives  us  again 
just  three  years  and  a  half.  And  this  being  pro- 
phetic time,  a  day  for  a  year  (Num.  14:34;  Eze. 
4 :  6),  and  there  being,  according  to  Scripture  reckon- 
ing, thirty  days  to  a  month,  or  three  hundred  and 
sixty  days  to  a  year  (Gen.  7: 11,  24;  8:4),  we  have 
in  each  case  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years 
for  the  continuance  of  the  little  horn  and  the  leopard 
beast. 

6.  Their  overthrow.  At  the  end  of  the  time, 
times,  and  a  half,  the  dominion  of  the  little  horn  was 
to  be  taken  away.  Dan.  7: 26.  At  the  end  of  the 
forty-two  months,  the  same  length  of  time,  the  leop- 
ard beast  was  also  to  be  slain,  politically,  with  the 
sword,  and  go  into  captivity.     Rev.  13:3,  10. 

These  are  points  which  prove  not  merely  similar- 
ity, but  identity.  For  whenever  two  symbols,  as 
jn  this  instance,  represent  powers  that — 


30  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

1.  Come  upon  the  stage  of  action   at  the    same 
time, 

2.  Occupy  the  same  territory, 

3.  Maintain  the  same  character, 

4.  Do  the  same  work, 

5.  Continue  the  same  length  of  time,  and 

6.  Meet  the  same  fate, 

Those  tiuo  symbols  must  Tej)resent  one  and  the 
same  'power. 

And  in  all  these  particulars  there  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  most  exact  coincidence  between  the  little 
horn  of  the  fourth  beast  of  Dan.  7  and  the  leopard 
beast  of  Rev.  13;  and  all  are  fulfilled  by  one  power, 
and  that  is  the  papacy.  For  1.  The  papacy  suc- 
ceeded to  the  pagan  form  of  the  Roman  empire; 
2.  It  has,  ever  since  it  was  first  established,  occupied 
the  seat  of  the  dragon,  the  city  of  Rome,  building 
for  itself  such  a  sanctuary — St.  Peter's — as  the  world 
nowhere  else  beholds ;  3.  It  is  a  blasphemous  power, 
speaking  the  most  presumptuous  words  it  is  possible 
for  mortal  lips  to  utter  against  the  Most  High ;  4. 
It  has  worn  out  the  saints,  the  Religious  Encyclo- 
pedia estimating  that  the  lives  of  fifty  millions  of 
Christians  have  been  quenched  in  blood  by  its  mer- 
ciless implements  of  torture;  5.  It  has  continued  a 
time,  times,  and  a  half,  or  forty-two  months,  or 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years;  commencing  in 
538,  when  the  decree  of  Justinian  in  behalf  of  papal 
supremacy  was  first  made  effectual  by  the  overthrow 
of  the  Goths,  the  papacy  enjoyed  a  period  of  unin- 
terrupted supremacy  for  just  twelve  hundred  and 


A   CHAIN   OF   PROPHECY.    '  31 

sixty  years,  to  1798;  and  6.  Then  its  power 
was  temporarily  overthrown,  and  its  influence  per- 
manently crippled,  when  the  French,  under  Ber- 
thier,  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  and  the  pope  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  died  in  exile. 

Can  any  one  doubt  that  the  papacy  is  the  power 
in  question,  and  that  the  interpretation  of  this  sym- 
bol brings  us  down  within  eighty-five  years  of  our 
own  time?  We  regard  the  exposition  of  the  proph- 
ecy thus  far  as  clear  beyond  the  possibility  of  refu- 
tation; and  if  this  is  so,  our  future  field  of  inquiry 
lies  within  a  very  narrow  compass,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see. 


^g:¥^^#^5i^ 


(Blvaptei:^   ^Ivt^e^^. 


LOCATION  OF  TRE  TWO-HORNED  BEAST. 

FOLLOWING  the  leopard,  or  papal  beast  of  Rev. 
13  in  consecutive  order,  comes  the  two-horned 
beast,  whose  appearance  the  prophet  delineates, 
and  whose  work  he  describes,  in  the  following  lan- 
guage : — 

Yerse  11.  And  I  beheld  another  beast  coming  up 
out  of  the  earth;  and  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb,  and 
he  spake  as  a  dragon.  12.  And  he  exerciseth  all  the 
power  of  the  first  beast  before  him,  and  causeth  the 
earth  and  them  which  dwell  therein  to  worship  the  first 
beast,  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed.  13.  And  he 
doeth  great  wonders,  so  that  he  maketli  fire  come  down 
from  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the  sight  of  men,  14,  and 
deceiveth  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  by  the  means 
of  those  miracles  which  he  had  power  to  do  in  the  sight 
of  the  beast ;  saying  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth, 
that  they  should  make  an  image  to  the  beast  which 
had  the  woimd  by  a  sword,  and  did  live.  15.  And 
he  had  jwwer  to  give  life  unto  the  image  of  the  beast, 
that  the  image  of  the  beast  should  both  speak,  and  cause 
that  as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of  the 
beast  should  be  killed.  16.  And  he  causeth  all,  both 
small  and  great,  rich  and  poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive 
a  mark  in  their  right  hand,  or  in  their  foreheads;  17  ; 
and  that  no  man  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had 
th(;  mark,  or  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  tlje  number  of 
bis  name. 
[33] 


LOCATION   OF   THE    TWO-HORNED   BEAST.  33 

These  few  verses,  with  an  allusion  to  the  same 
power  under  the  name  of  "the  false  prophet  "in 
Rev.  16  :  13  and  19  :  20,  furnish  all  the  testimony 
we  have  respecting  the  two-horned  beast  ;  but  brief 
as  it  is,  it  gives  sufficient  data  for  a  very  certain 
application  of  the  symbol  in  question.  As  an  ex- 
ample of  the  world  of  meaning  which  prophecy  can 
condense  into  a  few  words,  the  first  verse  of  the 
foregoing  quotation  may  be  instanced.  Here, 
within  a  compass  of  twenty -five  words,  only  four 
of  which  are  words  of  more  than  one  syllable,  six 
grand  points  are  made,  which,  taken  together,  are 
sufficient  to  determine  accurately  the  application  of 
this  symbol.  The  prophet  says,  first,  that  it  is 
"  another  beast;  "  secondly,  that  when  his  attention 
was  turned  to  it,  it  w^as  "  coming  up; "  thirdly,  that 
it  came  up  "out  of  the  earth;"  fourthly,  that  it 
had  "two  horns;"  fifthly,  that  these  horns  were 
like  those  of  "a  lamb;  "  and  sixthly,  that  it  spoke, 
and  by  speaking  revealed  its  true  character,  for  the 
voice  was  that  of  "a  dragon." 

The  two-horned  beast,  then,  is  "another  beast," 
in  addition  to,  and  difierent  from,  the  papal  beast 
which  the  prophet  had  just  had  under  considera- 
tion; that  is,  it  symbolizes  a  power  separate  and 
distinct  from  that  which  is  denoted  by  the  preced- 
ing beast.  This  w^hich  John  calls  "another  beast" 
is  certainly  no  part  of  the  first  beast ;  and  the  power 
symbolized  by  it  is  likewise  no  part  of  that  wdiich  is 
intended  by  that  beast.  This  is  fatal  to  the  claim 
of  those,  who,  to  avoid  the  application  of  this  sjm- 

3 


34  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

bol  to  our  own  government,  say  that  it  denotes 
some  phase  of  the  papacy ;  for  in  that  case  it  would 
be  a  part  of  the  preceding  or  leopard  beast. 

To  avoid  this  difficulty,  it  is  claimed  that  the 
two-horned  beast  represents  the  religious  or  ecclesi- 
astical, and  the  leopard  beast  the  civil,  power  of 
Rome  under  papal  rule ;  that  these  symbols  corre- 
spond to  the  beast  and  woman  in  Rev.  17,  the  one 
representing  the  civil  power,  the  other  the  ecclesias- 
tical. But  this  claim  also  falls  to  the  ground  just 
as  soon  as  it  is  shown  that  the  leopard  beast  repre- 
sents the  religious  as  well  as  the  civil  element  of  that 
power.     And  nothing  is  easier  than  to  show  this. 

Take  the  first  symbol,  the  dragon.  What  does  it 
represent  ?  Rome.  But  this  is  not  enough ;  for 
Rome  has  presented  two  great  phases  to  the  world, 
and  the  inquirer  wants  to  know  which  one  is  in- 
tended by  this  symbol.  The  answer  then  is,  Pagan 
Rome;  but  just  as  soon  as  we  add  ''pagan,"  we  in- 
troduce a  religious  element ;  for  paganism  is  one  of 
the  mightiest  systems  of  false  religion  ever  devised 
by  the  arch-enemy  of  truth.  It  was,  then,  the  re- 
ligious element  in  the  empire  that  determined  what 
symbol  should  be  used  to  represent  it;  and  the 
dragon  represented  Rome  while  under  the  control  of 
a  particular  form  of  religion. 

But  the  time  comes  when  another  symbol  is  intro- 
duced upon  the  scene — the  leopard  beast  arises  out 
of  the  sea.  What  power  is  symbolized  by  this  ? 
The  answer  is  still,  Rome.  But  the  dragon  symbol- 
ized Rome,  and  why  not  let  that  symbol  continue 


LOCATION   OF    THE   TWO-HORNED   BEAST.  35 

to  represent  it  ?  Whoever  attempts  to  answer  this 
question  must  say  that  it  is  because  a  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  power.  What  change  ?  Two 
kinds  of  changes  are  conspicuous  in  the  history  of 
Rome, — changes  in  the  form  of  government,  and  a 
change  in  religion.  But  this  cannot  denote  any 
chan<jfe  in  the  form  of  orovernment ;  for  the  seven 
different  forms  of  government  that  Rome  consecu- 
tively assumed  are  represented  by  the  seven  heads 
of  the  dragon  and  the  seven  heads  of  the  leopard 
beast.  The  religious  change  alone  must  therefore 
be  denoted  by  this  change  of  symbols.  Pagan- 
ism and  Christianity  coalesced,  and  the  mongrel 
production  was  the  papacy ;  and  this  new  religion, 
and  this  alone,  made  a  change  in  the  symbol  neces- 
sary. Every  candid  mind  must  assent  to  this ;  and 
this  assent  is  an  admission  of  the  utter  absurdity  of 
trying  to  limit  this  symbol  to  the  civil  power  alone. 
So  far  from  its  representing  the  civil  power  alone, 
it  is  to  the  ecclesiastical  element  that  it  owes  its 
very  existence. 

That  the  leopard  beast  represents  ecclesiastical  as 
well  as  civil  power  is  further  shown  in  the  argu- 
ments already  presented  to  prove  that  this  beast  is 
identical  with  the  little  horn  of  Daniel's  fourth 
beast,  which  symbolizes  the  papacy  in  all  its  com- 
ponent parts  and  through  all  its  history.  It  is  the 
leopard  beast  alone  that  is  identical  with  this  little 
horn,  not  the  leopard  beast  and  the  two-horned 
beast  taken  together. 

Again,  Pagan  Rome  gave  its  seat  to  the  papacy, 


86  THE   UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

The  dragon  gave  his  seat  to  the  leopard  beast.  If 
it  takes  both  the  leopard  beast  and  the  two-horned 
beast  to  constitute  the  papacy,  the  prophet  should 
have  said  that  the  dragon  gave  his  seat  and  power 
to  these  two  beasts  combined.  The  fact  that  this 
transfer  was  to  the  leopard  beast  alone,  is  proof 
positive  that  that  beast  alone  symbolizes  the  papacy 
in  its  entirety. 

When,  therefore,  John  calls  the  two-horned  beast 
"another  beast,"  it  is  certain  that  he  does  not  mean 
any  particular  phase,  or  any  part,  of  the  papal 
power. 

It  is  claimed  by  others  that  the  two-horned  beast 
represents  England;  by  still  others,  France;  and  by 
some,  Russia,  etc.  The  first,  among  many  other 
fatal  objections  to  all  these  applications,  is,  that  the 
territory  occupied  by  all  these  powers  is  already  ap- 
propriated by  preceding  symbols.  The  prophecy 
does  not  read  that  the  lion,  the  bear,  or  the  leopard 
reappeared  under  a  new  phase ;  or  that  one  of  the 
ten  horns  became  a  beast.  If  the  two-horned  beast 
symbolized  any  of  these,  it  would  be  a  part  of 
other  beasts  instead  of  "another  beast,"  separate 
and  distinct  from  all  the  rest.  It  is  a  law  of  sym- 
Ijols  that  each  one  occupies  territory  peculiarly  its 
own;  that  is,  the  territory  which  constituted  the 
original  government  was  no  part  of  that  which  had 
Ix^en  occupied  by  the  previous  powers.  Thus  Medo- 
Persia  rose  on  territory  not  occupied  by  Babylon; 
and  Medo-Persia  and  Babylon  together  covered  all 
that  portion  of  Asia  known  to  ancient  civilization, 


LOCATION   0¥   THE   TWO-HOKNED  BEAST  87 

The  Grecian  or  Macedonian  kingdom  arose  to  the 
west  of  them,  occupying  all  Eastern  Europe,  so  far 
as  it  was  then  known  to  the  ancients.  Rome  arose 
still  to  the  west,  in  territory  unoccupied  by  Grecia. 
Rome  was  divided  into  ten  kingdoms;  but  though 
Rome  conquered  the  world,  we  look  for  these  ten 
kingdoms  only  in  that  territory  which  had  never 
been  included  in  other  kingdoms.  We  look  not  to 
Eastern  Europe,  for  that  was  included  in  the  do- 
minion of  the  third  beast;  nor  to  Asia,  for  that 
constituted  the  empires  of  the  first  and  second 
beasts;  but  to  Western  Europe,  which  territory  was 
unoccupied  until  taken  by  Rome  and  its  divisions. 
The  ten  kingdoms  which  rose  out  of  the  old  Ro- 
man empire  are  enumerated  as  follows  by  Machia- 
vel,  indorsed  by  Bishop  Newton,  Faber,  and  Dr. 
Hales:  1.  The  Huns;  2.  The  Ostrogoths;  3.  The 
Visigoths;  4.  The  Franks;  5.  The  Vandals;  6. 
The  Suevi;  7.  The  Burgundians;  8.  The  Heruli; 
9.  The  Anglo-Saxons;  and  10.  The  Lombards. 
These  kingdoms  have  since  been  known,  says  Scott, 
as  the  "ten  kingdoms  of  the  Western  empire,"  and 
they  are  distinguishable  at  the  present  day,  some  of 
them  even  by  their  modern  names ;  as,  Hungary  from 
the  Huns,  Lombardy  from  the  Lombards,  France 
from  the  Franks,  and  England  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  These  ten  kingdoms  being  denoted  by  the 
ten  horns  of  the  leopard  beast,  it  is  evident  that  all 
the  territory  included  in  these  ten  kingdoms  is  to  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  that  beast.  England  is 
one  of  these  ten  kingdoms ;  France  is  another.     If, 


S8  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN  PHOPHECY. 

therefore,  we  say  that  either  of  these  is  the  one  rep- 
resented by  the  two-horned  beast,  we  make  one 
of  the  horns  of  the  leopard  beast  constitute  the  two- 
horned  beast.  But  this  the  prophecy  forbids;  for 
while  John  sees  the  leopard  beast  fully  developed, 
with  his  horns  all  complete  and  distinct,  he  beholds 
the  two-horned  beast  coming  up,  and  calls  it  ''an- 
other beast."  We  are  therefore  to  look  for  the  gov- 
ernment which  this  beast  symbolizes  in  some  country 
outside  the  territory  occupied  by  the  four  beasts  and 
the  ten  horns  already  referred  to.  But  these,  as  we 
have  seen,  cover  all  the  available  portions  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere. 

Another  consideration  pointing  to  the  locality  of 
this  power  is  draAvn  from  the  fact  that  John  saw  it 
arising  from  the  earth.  If  the  sea  from  which  the 
leopard  beast  arose  (Rev.  13  :  1)  denotes  peoples,  na- 
tions, and  multitudes  (Rev.  17  :  15),  the  earth  would 
suggest,  by  contrast,  a  new  and  previously  unoccu- 
pied territory. 

Being  thus  excluded  from  Eastern  continents  and 
impressed  with  the  idea  of  looking  to  territory  not 
previously  known  to  civilization,  we  turn  of  neces- 
sity to  the  western  hemisphere.  And  this  is  in  full 
harmony  with  the  ideas  already  quoted,  and  more 
which  might  be  presented,  that  the  progress  of  em- 
pire is  with  the  sun  around  the  earth  from  east  to 
west.  Commencing  in  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  race, 
it  would  end  on  this  continent,  which  completes  the 
circuit.  Bishop  Berkcle}^  in  his  celebrated  poem  on 
America,  written  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago, 


LOCATION  OF   THE   TWO-HORNED  BEAST.         39 

in  the  following  forcible  lines,  pointed  out  the  then 
future  position  of  America,  and  its  connection  with 
preceding  empires: — 

"Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way  ; 
The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day  ; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

By  the  "first  four  acts  already  past,"  the  bishop 
had  undoubted  reference  to  the  four  universal  king- 
doms of  Daniel's  prophecy.  A  fifth  great  power, 
the  noblest  and  the  last,  was,  according  to  his  poem, 
to  arise  this  side  the  Atlantic,  and  here  close  the 
drama  of  time,  as  the  day  here  ends  its  circuit. 

To  what  part  of  the  American  continent  shall  we 
look  for  the  power  in  question?  To  the  most  pow- 
erful and  prominent  nation,  certainly.  This  is  so 
self-evident  that  we  need  not  stop  to  pass  in  review 
the  frozen  fragments  of  humanity  on  the  north  of 
us,  nor  the  weak,  superstitious,  semi-barbarous,  revo- 
lutionary, and  uninfluential  kingdoms  to  the  south 
of  us.  No;  we  come  to  the  United  States,  and  here 
we  are  held.  To  this  nation  the  question  of  the  lo- 
cation of  the  two-horned  beast  undeviatingly  leads 
us. 

As  an  objection  to  this  view,  it  may  occur  to  some 
minds  that  the  two-horned  beast  exercises  all  the 
power  of  the  first  beast  before  him  (Greek,  h6movy 
literally,  before  his  eyes),  and  does  wonders  in  his 
sight;  and  how  can  the  United  States,  separated  by 
an  ocean  from  European  kingdoms,  hold  such  an 
intimate  relation  to  th(3m  ?     We  answer,  Space  and 


40  THE   UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

time  are  annihilated  by  the  telegraph.  Through 
the  Atlantic  cable  (an  enterprise  which,  by  the  way, 
owes  its  origin  to  the  United  States),  the  lightnings 
are  continually  picturing  to  European  beholders  the 
affairs  of  America.  Any  important  event  occurring 
here  is  described  the  next  hour  in  the  journals  of 
Europe.  So  far  as  the  transmission  of  an  account 
of  our  proceedings  to  the  people  of  the  Old  World  is 
concerned,  it  is  as  if  America  lay  at  the  mouth  of 
the  English  Channel. 

And  the  eyes  of  all  Europe  are  intently  watching 
our  movements.  Says  Mr.  Townsend  ("New  World 
and  Old."  p.  583):— 

"All  the  great  peoples  of  Europe  are  curiously  inter- 
ested and  amazed  in  the  rise  of  America,  and  their  rulers 
at  present  compete  for  our  friendship.  'Europe,'  said 
the  prince  Talleyrand  long  ago,  '  must  have  a-n  eye  on 
America,  and  take  care  not  to  offer  any  pretext  for  re- 
crimination or  retaliation.  America  is  gro^ving  every 
day.  She  will  become  a  colossal  power,  and  the  time 
will  come  when  (discoveries  enabling  her  to  communi- 
cate more  easily  with  Europe)  she  will  want  to  say  a 
word  in  our  affairs,  and  have  a  hand  in  them.'" 

The  time  has  come,  and  the  discoveries  have  been 
made,  to  which  Talleyrand  referred.  It  is  almost 
as  easy  now  to  communicate^  with  Europe  as  with  our 
nearest  town.  By  these  things  the  attention  of  the 
world  is  drawn  still  more  strongly  toward  us;  and 
thus  whatever  the  United  States  does,  it  is  done  in 
the  sight — yes,  even  before  the  eyes — of  all  Europe. 

One  strong  pillar  in  the  argument  is  thus  firmly 


Location  of  the  two-hohned  beast.        41 

set.  The  terms  of  the  prophecy  absohitely  fix  the 
location  of  the  power  symbolized  by  the  two-horned 
beast ;  and  that  location  is  in  this  western  hemisphere. 
It  can  be  nowhere  else.  Per  consequence,  our  own 
nation  is  the  power  in  question. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  TWO-HORNED  BEAST. 

HAVING  become  satisfied  where  the  power  sym- 
bolized by  the  two-horned  beast  must  be  lo- 
cated, we  now  inquire  respecting  the  time  when  we 
may  look  for  its  development.  At  what  period  in 
this  world's  history  is  the  rise  of  this  power  placed 
in  the  prophecy?  On  this  point,  as  on  the  preceding, 
the  foundation  for  the  conclusions  at  which  we  must 
arrive  is  already  laid  in  the  facts  elicited  in  reference 
to  the  preceding,  or  leopard  beast.  It  was  at  the 
time  when  this  beast  went  into  captivity,  or  was 
killed  (politically)  with  the  sword  (verse  10),  or  (which 
we  suppose  to  be  the  same  thing)  had  one  of  its  heads 
wounded  to  death  (verse  3),  that  John  saw  the  two- 
horned  beast  coming  up.  If  the  leopard  beast,  as 
we  have  conclusively  proved,  signifies  the  papacy, 
and  the  going  into  captivity  met  its  fulfillment  in 
the  temporary  overthrow  of  the  popedom  by  the 
French  in  1798,  then  we  have  the  time  definitely 
specified  when  we  are  to  look  for  the  rising  of  this 
power.  The  expression,  "  coming  up,"  must  signity 
that  the  power  to  which  it  applies  was  but  newly 
organized,  and  was  then  just  rising  into  prominence 
and  influence.     The  power  represented  by  this  sym- 

[42] 


X 

CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   TWO-HORNED  BEAST.       4S 

bol  must,  then,  be  some  power  which  in  1798  stood 
in  this  position  before  the  world. 

That  the  leopard  beast  is  a  symbol  of  the  papacy, 
there  can  be  no  question ;  but  some  may  want  more 
evidence  that  the  wounding  of  one  of  its  heads,  or 
its  going  into  captivity,  was  the  overthrow  of  the 
papacy  in  1798.  This  can  easily  be  given.  A  na- 
tion being  represented  by  a  wild  beast,  the  govern- 
ment of  that  nation,  that  by  which  it  is  controlled, 
must,  as  a  very  clear  matter  of  course,  be  considered 
as  answering  to  the  head  of  the  beast.  The  seven 
heads  of  this  beast  would  therefore  denote  seven  dif- 
ferent governments ;  but  all  the  heads  pertain  to  one 
beast,  and  hence  all  these  seven  different  forms  of 
government  pertain  to  one  empire.  But  only  one 
form  of  government  can  exist  in  a  nation  at  one 
time ;  hence  the  seven  heads  must  denote  seven  forms 
of  government  to  appear,  not  simultaneously,  but 
successively.  But  these  heads  pertain  alike  to  the 
dragon  and  the  leopard  beast;  from  which  this  one 
conclusion  only  can  be  drawn ;  namely,  that  Rome,  dur- 
ing its  whole  history,  embracing  both  its  pagan  and 
papal  phases,  would  change  its  government  six  times, 
presenting  to  the  world  seven  different  forms  in  all. 
And  the  historian  records  j  ust  that  number  as  per- 
taining to  Rome.  Rome  was  ruled  first  by  Kings; 
secondly,  by  Consuls  ;  thirdly,  by  Decemvirs  ; 
fourthly,  by  Dictators ;  fifthly,  by  Triumvirs ;  sixthly, 
by  Emperors ;  and  seventhly,  by  Popes.  See  Amer- 
ican Encyclopedia. 

John  saw  one  of  these  heads   wounded  as  it  were 


44  THE   UNITED  STATES   IK  PROPHECY. 

to  death.  Which  one?  Can  we  tell  ?  Let  it  be 
noticed,  first,  that  it  is  one  of  the  heads  of  the  beavSt 
which  is  wounded  to  death,  and  not  one  of  the  heads 
of  the  dragon ;  that  is,  it  is  some  form  of  govern- 
ment which  existed  in  Rome  after  the  change  of 
symbols  from  the  dragon  to  the  leopard  beast.  We 
then  inquire,  How  many  of  the  different  forms  of 
Roman  government  belonged  absolutely  to  the 
dragon,  or  existed  in  Rome  while  it  maintained  its 
dragonic,  or  pagan  form  ?  These  same  seven  heads 
are  again  presented  to  John  in  Rev.  17 ;  and  the  an- 
gel there  explains  that  they  are  seven  kings,  or  forms 
of  government  (verse  10) ;  and  he  informs  John  that 
five  are  fallen,  and  one  is ;  that  is,  five  of  these  forms 
of  government  were  already  past  in  John's  day,  and 
he  was  living  under  the  sixth.  Under  what  form 
did  John  live?  The  imperial;  it  being  the  cruel  de- 
cree of  the  emperor  Domitian  which  banished  him 
to  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  where  this  vision  was  given. 
Kings,  Consuls,  Decemvirs,  Dictators,  and  Trium- 
virs were  all  in  the  past  in  John's  day.  Emperors 
were  then  ruling  the  Roman  world;  and  the  empire 
was  still  pagan.  Six  of  these  heads,  therefore, — 
Kings,  Consuls,  Decemvirs,  Dictators,  Triumvirs, 
and  Emperors, — belonged  to  the  dragon,  for  they  all 
existed  while  Rome  w^as  pagan;  and  it  was  no  one 
of  these  that  was  wounded  to  death ;  for  had  it  been, 
John  would  have  said,  I  saw  one  of  the  heads  of  the 
dragon  wounded  to  death.  The  wound  was  in- 
flicted after  the  empire  had  so  changed  in  respect  to 
its  religion  that  it  became  necessary  to  represent  it 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    TWO-HORNED   BEAST.      45 

by  the  leopard  beast.  But  the  beast  had  only  seven 
heads,  and  if  six  of  them  pertain  to  the  dragon,  only 
one  remained  to  have  an  existence  after  this  change 

o 

in  the  empire  took  place.  After  the  Emperors,  the 
sixth  and  last  head  that  existed  in  Rome  in  its 
dragonic  form,  came  the  Popes,  the  only  head  that 
existed  after  the  empire  had  nominally  become 
Christian.  The  "Exarch  of  Ravenna"  existed  so 
"  short  a  space  "  (Rev.  17: 10)  that  it  has  no  plac6  in 
the  general  enumeration  of  the  heads  of  this 
power. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  evident  that  the 
head  which  received  the  mortal  wound  was  none 
other  than  the  papal  head.  This  conclusion  cannot 
be  shaken.  We  have  now  only  to  inquire  when  the 
papal  head  was  wounded  to  death.  It  could  not 
certainly  be  til]  after  its  full  development ;  but  after 
this,  the  prophecy  marked  out  for  it  an  uninterrupted 
rule  of  1260  years,  from  its  establishment  in  538 
till  the  revolution  of  1708.  Then  the  papacy  was, 
for  the  time  being,  overthrown,  Genei^al  Berthier, 
by  order  of  the  French  Directory,  moved  against 
the  dominions  of  the  pope  in  January,  1798.  Feb- 
ruary 10,  he  effected  an  entrance  into  the  self-styled 
Eternal  City,  and  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month  pro- 
claimed the  establishment  of  the  Roman  republic. 
The  pope,  after  this  deprivation  of  his  authority,  was 
conveyed  to  France  as  a  prisoner,  and  died  at  Va- 
lence, Aug.  29,  1799. 

This  would  have  been  the  end  of  the  papacy  had 
this  averthrow  been  made  permanent.     The  wound 


4()  THE   UXITED   STATES    IX   PROPHECY. 

would  have  proved  fatal  had  it  not  been  healed. 
But,  though  the  wound  was  healed,  the  scar,  so  to 
speak,  has  ever  since  remained.  A  new  pope  was 
elected  in  1800,  and  the  papacy  was  restored,  but 
only  to  a  partial  possession  of  its  former  privileges. 
Rev.  Geo.  Croly,  A.  M.,  speaking  upon  this  point, 
says:— 

"  The  extinction  of  torture  and  secrecy  is  the  virtual 
extmction  of  the  tribunal.  The  power  of  the  pope,  as  a 
systcDiatic  persecutor,  has  thus  been  annulled  by  the 
events  growing  out  of  the  Republican  era  of  1793." — 
Croly  on  the  Apocalypse,  p.  257. 

Let  the  reader  look  carefully  at  this  event.  It 
furnishes  a  complete  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy; 
and  it  is  the  only  event  in  all  Roman  history  which 
does  this ;  for,  though  the  first  six  heads  were  each 
in  turn  exterminated,  or  gave  place  to  a  succeeding 
head,  of  no  one  of  them  could  it  be  said  that  it  re- 
ceived a  deadly  wound,  and  was  afterward  healed. 
And  as  this  overthrow  of  the  papacy  by  the  French 
military  must  be  the  wounding  of  the  head  men- 
tioned in  Rev.  13  -.3,  so,  likewise,  must  it  be  the 
going  into  captivity  and  the  killing  with  the  sword 
mentioned  in  verse  10 ;  for  it  is  an  event  of  the  right 
nature  to  fulfill  the  prophecy,  and  one  Avhich  oc- 
curred at  the  right  time ;  namely,  at  the  end  of  the 
time,  times,  and  a  half,  the  forty- two  months,  or  the 
1260  years;  and  no  other  event  can  be  found  an- 
swering to  the  record  in  these  respects.  We  arc  not 
left,  therefore,  with  any  discretionary  power  in  the 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   TWO-HORNED   BEAST.      4/ 

application  of  this  prophecy ;  for  God,  by  his  provi- 
dence, has  marked  the  era  of  its  accompHshment  in 
as  plain  a  manner  as  though  he  had  proclaimed  with 
an  audible  voice,  Behold  here  the  accomplishment  of 
my  prophetic  word ! 

Thus  clearly  is  the  exact  time  when  we  are 
to  look  for  the  rise  of  the  two-horned  beast  indi- 
cated in  the  prophecy  ;  for  John,  as  soon  as  he 
beholds  the  captivity  of  the  first  or  leopard  beast, 
says,  "And  I  beheld  another  beast  coming  up." 
And  his  use  of  the  present  participle,  "coming"  up, 
clearly  connects  this  view  with  the  preceding  verse, 
and  shows  it  to  be  an  event  transpiring  simultane- 
ously with  the  going  into  captivity  of  the  previous 
beast.  If  he  had  said,  "And  I  had  seen  another 
beast  coming  up,"  it  would  prove  that  when  he  saw 
it,  it  was  coming  up,  but  that  the  time  when  he  be- 
held it  was  indefinitely  in  the  past.  If  he  had  said, 
"And  I  beheld  another  beast  which  had  come  up," 
it  would  prove  that  although  his  attention  was 
called  to  it  at  the  time  when  the  first  beast  went 
into  captivity,  yet  its  rise  was  still  indefinitely  in 
the  past.  But  when  he  says,  "  I  beheld  another 
beast  coining  lij),"  it  proves  that  when  he  turned 
his  eyes  from  the  captivity  of  the  first  beast,  he  saw 
another  power  just  then  in  the  process  of  rapid  de- 
velopment among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  So, 
then,  about  the  year  1798,  the  star  of  that  power 
which  is  symbolized  by  the  two-horned  beast  must 
be  seen  rising  over  the  horizon  of  the  nations,  and 
claiming  its  place  in  the  political  heavens.     In  view 


48  THE    UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

of  these  considerations,  it  is  useless  to  speak  of  this 
power  as  having  arisen  ages  in  the  past.  To  at- 
tempt such  an  application  is  to  show  one's  self  ut- 
terly reckless  in  regard  to  the  plainest  statements  of 
inspiration. 

Again,  the  work  of  the  two-horned  beast  is  plainly 
located,  by  verse  12,  this  side  the  captivity  of  the 
first  beast.  It  is  there  stated,  in  direct  terms,  that 
the  two-horned  beast  causes  "the  earth  and  them 
which  dwell  therein  to  worship  the  first  beast,  whose 
deadly  wound  was  healed."  But  worship  could  not 
be  rendered  to  a  beast  whose  deadly  wound  was 
healed,  till  after  that  healing  was  accomplished. 
This  brings  the  worship  which  this  two-horned 
beast  enforces  unmistakably  within  the  present 
century. 

Says  Eld.  J.  Litch  (Restitution,  p.  131): — 

"  The  two-horned  beast  is  represented  as  a  power  ex- 
isting and  performing  his  part  after  the  death  and  re- 
vival of  the  first  beast." 

Mr.  Wesley,  in  his  notes  on  Rev.  14,  written  in 
1754,  says  of  the  two-horned  beast: — 

"  He  has  not  yet  come,  though  he  cannot  be  fiir  off; 
for  he  is  to  appear  at  the  end  of  the  forty-two  months  of 
the  first  beast." 

We  find  three  additional  declarations  in  the  book 
of  Revelation  which  prove,  in  a  general  sense-,  that 
the  two-horned  beast  performs  his  work  with  that 
generation  of  men  who  are  to  behold  the  closing  up 
of  all  earthly  scenes,  and  the  second  coming  of  ouy 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   TWO-HORNED   BEAST.      49 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,    and  these  will  complete  the  ar- 
gument on  this  point. 

The  first  is  the  message  of  the  third  angel,  brought 
to  view  in  the  14th  of  Revelation.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  to  enter  into  an  exposition  of  the  three  mes- 
sages of  that  chapter.  We  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  only  one  fact,  which  must  be  apparent  to 
all;  and  that  is,  that  the  third  of  these  messages  is 
the  last  warning  of  danger  and  the  last  offer  of 
mercy  before  the  close  of  human  probation ;  for  the 
event  which  immediately  follows  is  the  appearance 
of  one  like  the  Son  of  man  on  a  white  cloud,  com- 
ing to  reap  the  harvest  of  the  earth  (verse  14),  which 
can  represent  nothing  else  but  the  second  advent  of 
the  Lord  from  Heaven.  Whatever  views,  therefore, 
a  person  may  take  of  the  first  and  second  messages, 
and  at  whatever  time  he  may  apply  them,  it  is  very 
certain  that  the  third  and  last  one  covers  the  closing 
hours  of  time,  and  reaches  down  to  the  second  com- 
ing of  Christ.  And  what  is  the  burden  of  this  mes- 
sage? It  is  a  denunciation  of  the  unmingled  wrath 
of  God  against  those  who  worship  the  beast  and  his 
image.  But  this  worship  of  the  beast  and  his  image 
is  the  very  work  which  the  two-horned  beast  en- 
deavors to  enforce  upon  the  people.  The  third  mes- 
sage, then,  is  a  warning  against  the  work  of  the 
two-horned  beast.  And  as  there  would  be  no  pro- 
priety in  supposing  this  warning  to  be  given  after 
that  work  was  performed,  since  it  could  appropriately 
be  given  only  when  the  two-horned  beast  was  about 
to  enforce  that  worship,  and  while  he  was  endeavor- 


50  THE   UNITED   STATES   IX   PIIOPHECY. 

ing  to  enforce  it,  and  since  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
immediately  succeeds  the  proclamation  of  this  mes- 
sage, it  follows  that  the  duties  enjoined  by  this  mes- 
sage, and  the  decrees  enforced  by  the  two-horned 
beast,  constitute  the  last  test  to  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  world;  and  hence  the  two-horned  beast 
performs  his  work,  not  ages  in  the  past,  but  among 
the  last  generation  of  men. 

The  second  passage  showing  that  the  work 
of  the  two-horned  beast  is  performed  just  before  the 
close  of  time,  is  found  in  Rev.  15  :  2,  which  we  have 
shown  to  refer  to  the  same  company  spoken  of  in 
chapter  14  : 1-5.  Here  is  a  company  who  have 
gained  the  victory  over  the  beast  and  his  image,  and 
the  mark  and  the  number  of  his  name;  in  other 
words,  they  have  been  in  direct  conflict  with  the 
two-horned  beast,  which  endeavors  to  enforce  the 
worship  of  the  beast  and  the  reception  of  his  mark. 
And  these  are  *'  redeemed  from  among  men"  (14  :  4), 
or  are  translated  from  among  the  living  at  the 
second  coming  of  Christ.  1  Cor.  15  :  51,  52;  1 
Thess.  4  :  16,  17.  This,  again,  shows  conclusively 
that  it  is  the  last  generation  which  witnesses  the 
work  of  this  power. 

The  third  passage  is  Rev.  19  :  20,  which  speaks 
of  the  two-horned  beast  under  the  title  of  the  false 
prophet,  and  mentions  a  point  not  given  in  Rev.  13, 
namely,  the  doom  he  is  to  meet.  In  the  battle  of 
the  great  day,  which  takes  place  in  connection  with 
the  second  coming  of  Christ  (verses  11-19),  the  false 
prophet,  or  two-horned    beast,  is  cast  alive  into  a 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE  TWO-HOilNED  BEAST.      51 

lake  of  fire  burning  witli  brimstone ;  and  the  Avord 
''alive"  signifies  that  this  power  will  be  at  that 
time  a  living  power,  performing  its  part  in  all  its 
strength  and  vigor.  This  power  is  not  to  pass  off 
the  stage  of  action  and  be  succeeded  by  another; 
but  it  is  to  be  a  ruling  power  till  destroyed  by  the 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  when  he  comes  to 
dash  the  nations  in  pieces  with  a  rod  of  iron. 

The  sum  of  the  argument,  then,  on  this  matter  of 
chronology,  is  this :  That  the  two-horned  beast  does 
not  come  into  the  field  of  this  vision  previous  to  the 
year  1798 ;  that  it  performs  its  work  while  the  last 
generation  of  men  is  living  on  the  earth ;  and  that 
it  comes  up  to  the  battle  of  the  great  day  a  living- 
power  in  the  full  vigor  of  its  strength. 

As  it  was  shown  in  the  argument  on  the  location 
of  the  two-horned  beast  that  we  are  limited  in  our 
application  to  the  Western  Continent,  so  we  are  lim- 
ited still  further  by  its  chronology ;  for  it  must  not 
only  be  some  power  which  arises  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  but  one  which  is  seen  coming  up  here  at  a 
'particidar  time.  Taking  our  stand,  then,  in  the 
year  1798,  the  time  indicated  in  the  prophecy,  we 
invite  the  careful  attention  of  the  reader  to  this 
question:  What  independent  power  in  either  Nortli 
or  South  America  was  at  that  time  ''  coming  up  "  in 
a  manner  to  answer  to  the  conditions  of  the  proph- 
ecy? All  that  part  of  North  America  lying  to  the 
north  of  us  was  under  the  dominion  of  Russia  and 
Great  Britain.  Mexico,  to  the  southwest,  was  a 
Spanish  colony.     Passing  to  South  America,  Brazil 


52  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

belonged  to  Portugal,  and  most  of  the  other  South 
American  States  were  under  Spanish  control.  In 
short,  there  was  not  then  a  single  civilized,  independ- 
ent governmiCnt  in  the  New  World,  except  our  own 
United  States.  This  nation,  therefore,  must  be  the 
one  represented  in  the  prophecy;  for  no  other  an- 
swers the  specifications  in  the  least  degree.  It  has 
always  taken  the  lead  of  all  European  settlements 
in  this  hemisphere.  It  was  "  coming  up  "  at  the  ex- 
act time  indicated  in  the  prophecy.  Like  a  lofty 
monument  in  a  field  all  its  own,  we  here  behold  the 
United  States  grandly  overtowering  all  the  conti- 
nent. So  far  as  God's  providence  works  among  the 
nations  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes,  it  is 
visible  in  the  development  of  this  country  as  an 
agent  to  fulfill  his  word.  On  these  two  vital  points 
of  LOCATION  and  chronology,  the  arguments  which 
show  that  OUR  country  is  the  one  represented  by 
the  symbol  of  the  two-horned  beast  are  absolutely 

CONCLUSIVE. 


Qhaptcz^    cFiue. 


THE   UNITED   STATES   HAS   ARISEN   IN  THE   EXACT 
MANNER  IN  WHICH   JOHN  SAW  THE  TWO- 
HORNED  BEAST  COMING  UP. 


THE  manner  in  which  the  two-horned  beast  was 
seen  coming  up  shows,  equally  with  its  location 
and  its  chronology,  that  it  is  a  symbol  of  the 
United  States.  John  says  he  saw  the  beast  coming 
up  ''out  of  the  earth."  And  this  expression  must 
have  been  designedly  used  to  point  out  the  contrast 
between  the  rise  of  this  beast  and  that  of  other  na- 
tional prophetic  symbols.  The  four  beasts  of  Dan. 
7  and  the  leopard  beast  of  Kev.  13  all  arose  out  of 
the  sea.  Says  Daniel,  "The  four  winds  of  the  heaven 
strove  upon  the  great  sea  ;  and  four  beasts  came  up 
from  the  sea."  The  sea  denotes  peoples,  nations,  and 
tongues  (Rev.  17:  15),  and  the  winds  denote  polit- 
ical strife  and  commoti(m.  Jer.  25 :  32,  33.  There 
was,  then,  in  this  scene,  the  dire  commotion  of  nat- 
ure's mightiest  elements, — the  wind  above,  the  waters 
beneath,  the  fury  of  the  gale,  the  roaring  and  dash- 
ing of  the  waves,  and  the  tumult  of  the  raging  stoi-m ; 
and  in  the  midst  of  this  war  of  elements,  as  if  aroused 
from  the  depths  of  the  sea  by  the  fearful  commotion, 
these  beasts  one  after  another  appeared.     In  other 

[53] 


54  THE   UNITED   SJATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

words,  the  governments  of  which  these  beasts  were 
symbols  owed  their  origin  to  movements  among  the 
people  which  would  be  Avell  represented  by  the  sea 
lashed  into  foam  by  the  sweeping  gale;  they  arose 
by  the  upheavals  of  revolution,  and  through  the 
strife  of  war. 

But  Avhen  the  prophet  beholds  the  rising  of  the 
two-horned  beast,  how  different  the  scene !  No  po- 
litical tempest  sweeps  the  horizon,  no  armies  clash 
together  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  He  doos  not  be- 
hold the  troubled  and  restless  surface  of  the  Avaters, 
but  a  calm  and  immovable  expanse  of  earth.  And 
out  of  this  earth,  like  a  plant  growing  up  in  a  quiet 
and  sheltered  spot,  he  sees  this  beast,  bearing  on  his 
head  the  horns  of  a  lamb,  those  eloquent  symbols  of 
youth  and  innocence,  daily  augmenting  in  bodily 
proportions,  and  daily  increasing  in  physical 
strength. 

If  any  one  should  here  point  to  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  as  an  event  which  destroys  the  force  of 
this  application,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  I'eply,  1. 
That  war  was  at  least  fifteen  years  in  the  past  when 
the  two-horned  beast  was  introduced  into  the  Held 
of  this  vision;  and  2.  The  war  of  the  Revolution 
was  not  a  war  of  conquest.  It  was  not  waged  to 
overthrow  any  otlier  kuigdom  and  build  this  gov- 
ernment on  its  ruins,  but  only  to  defend  the  just 
rights  of  the  American  people.  An  act  of  resistance 
against  continual  attempts  of  injustice  and  tyranny 
cannot  certainly  be  placed  in  the  same  catalogue 
with  wars  of  aggression  and  con(|uest.     The  same 


ITS   RAPID  PEOGRESS 


may- be  said  of  the  war  of  1812.  Hence,  these  con- 
flicts do  not  even  partake  of  the  nature  of  objections 
to  the  application  here  set  foi'th. 

The  word  which  John  uses  to  describe  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  beast  comes  up  is  very  expressive. 
It  is  dvajSaivop  (anabainon),  one  of  the  prominent 
definitions  of  which  is,  "  To  grow  or  spring  up  as  a 
plant. "  And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  this  very 
figure  has  been  chosen  by  political  writers  as  the  one 
conveying  the  best  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
government  has  arisen.  Mr.  G.  A.  Townsend,  in 
his  work  entitled,  "  The  New  World  Compared  with 
the  Old,"  p.  4G2,  says:— 

'•'  Since  America  was  discovered,  she  lias  been  a  sub- 
ject of  revolutionary  thought  in  Europe.  The  mystery 
of  he7'  coming  forth  from  vacancy,  the  marvel  of  her 
Avealth  in  gold  and  silver,  the  spectacle  of  her  captives 
led  through  European  capitals,  filled  the  minds  of  men 
with  unrest ;  and  unrest  is  the  first  stage  of  revolu- 
tion." 

On  p.  635,  he  further  says: — 

"In  this  web  of  islands — the  West  Indies — began -the 
life  of  both  [North  and  South]  Americas.  There  Colum- 
bus saw  land,  there  Si)ain  began  her  baneful  and  brill- 
iant Western  Empire;  thence  Cortez  departed  for  Mex- 
ico, De  Soto  for  the  Mrssissij  )pi,  Balboa  for  the  Pacific, 
and  Pizarro  for  Peru.  The  history  of  the  United  States 
was  separated  by  a  beneficent  Providence  far  from  this 
wild  and  cruel  history  of  the  rest  of  the  continent,  and 
like  a  silent  seed  we  grew  into  empire;  while  empire 
itself,  beginning  in  the  South,  was  swe]_)t  by  so  intermin  - 


56  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

able  a  hurricane  that  what  of  its  history  we  can  ascer- 
tain is  read  by  the  very  lightnings  that  devastated  it. 
The  growth  of  English  America  may  be  likened  to  a 
series  of  lyrics  sung  by  separate  singers,  which,  coales- 
cing, at  last  make  a  vigorous  chorus,  and  this,  attracting 
many  from  afar,  swells  and  is  prolonged,  until  presently 
it  assumes  the  dignity  and  proportions  of  epic  song." 

A  writer  in  the  Diihlin  Nation,  about  the  year 
1850,  spoke  of  the  United  States  as  a  wonderful  em- 
pire which  was  "  emerging,"  and  "  amid  the  silence 
of  the  earth  daily  adding  to  its  power  and  pride." 

In  Marty n's  *'  History  of  the  Great  Reformation," 
Vol.  iv.  p.  238,  is  an  extract  from  an  oration  deliv- 
ered by  Edward  Everett  on  the  English  exiles  who 
founded  this  government,  in  which  he  says : — 

"  Did  they  look  for  a  retii-ed  sj^ot,  inoffensive  from  its 
obscurity,  safe  in  its  remoteness  from  the  haunts  of  des- 
pots, where  the  little  church  of  Leyden  might  enjoy  free- 
dom of  conscience?  Behold  the  mighty  regions  over 
which  in  jyeaceful  conquest — victoria  sine  clade — they 
have  borne  the  banners  of  the  cross." 

We  now  ask  the  reader  to  look  at  these  expres- 
sions side  by  side, — ''coming  up  out  of  the  earth," 
"coming  forth  from  vacancy,"  "emerging  amid  the 
silence  of  the  earth,"  "  like  a  silent  seed  we  grew  into 
empire,"  "mighty  regions"  secured  by  "peaceful 
conquest."  The  first  is  from  thb  prophet,  stating 
what  would  be  when  the  two-horned  beast  should 
arise;  the  others  are  from  political  writers,  telling 
what  has  been  in  the  history  of  our  own  govern- 
ment.    Can  any  one  fail  to  see  that  the  last  four  are 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  57 

exactly  synonymous  with  the  first,  and  that  they 
record  a  complete  accomplishment  of  the  prediction? 
And  what  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  those  who  have 
thus  recorded  the  fulfillment  have,  without  any 
reference  to  prophecy,  used  the  very  figure  which 
the  prophet  employed.  These  men,  therefore,  be- 
ing judges, — men  of  large  and  cultivated  minds, 
whose  powers  of  discernment  all  will  acknowledge 
to  be  sufficiently  clear, — it  is  certain  that  the  par- 
ticular manner  in  which  the  United  States  has 
arisen  answers  most  strikingly  to  the  development 
of  the  symbol  under  consideration. 

We  now  extend  the  inquiry  a  step  further:  Has 
the  United  States  "  come  up  "  in  a  manner  to  fulfill 
the  prophecy  in  respect  to  the  achievements  this  gov- 
ernment has  accomplished?  Has  the  progress  made 
been  sufficiently  great  and  sufficiently  rapid  to  cor- 
respond to  that  visible  and  perceptible  growth  which 
John  saw  in  the  two-horned  beast? 

Every  person  whose  reading  is  ordmarily  exten- 
sive has  something  of  an  idea  of  what  the  United 
States  is  to-day;  he  likewise  has  an  idea,  so  far  as 
words  can  convey  it  to  his  mind,  of  what  this  coun- 
try was  at  the  commencement  of  its  history.  The 
only  object,  then,  in  presenting  statistics  and  testi- 
mony on  this  point,  is  to  show  that  our  rapid  growth 
has  struck  mankind  with  the  wonder  of  a  constant 
miracle. 

Said  Emile  de  Girardin  in  La  Liberie  (1868): — 

"The  population  of  America,  not  thinned  by  any  con- 
scription, multiplies  with  prodigious    rapidity,  and  the 


58  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

day  may  before  [long  be]  seen,  when  they  will  number 
sixty  or  eighty  millions  of  souls.  This  iKirvenii  [one  re- 
cently risen  to  notice]  is  awaj-e  of  his  importance  and 
destiny.  Hear  him  proudly  exclaim,  'America  for 
Americans  ! '  See  him  promising  his  alliance  to  Russia  ; 
and  we  see  that  power,  which  well  knows  what  force  is, 
grasp  the  hand  of  this  giant  of  yesterday. 

"In  view  of  his  unixiralhled  ])ro(jress  and  comhina- 
tion,  what  are  the  little  toys  with  which  we  vex  oiu'- 
selves  in  Europe?  What  is  this  needle  gun  we  are  anx- 
ious to  get  from  Prussia,  that  we  may  beat  her  next  year 
with  it?  Had  we  not  better  take  from  America  the 
principle  of  liberty  she  embodies,  out  of  which  have 
come  her  citizen  pride,  her  gigantic  industry,  and  her 
formidable  loyalty  to  the  destinies  of  her  republican 
land?" 

The  Bvbhlln  (Ireland)  Nation,  already  quoted, 
about  the  year  1850,  said: — 

"  In  the  East  there  is  arising  a  colossal  centaur  called 
the  Kussian  empire.  With  a  civilized  head  and  front, 
it  has  the  sinews  of  a  huge  barbaric  body.  There  one 
man's  brain  moves  70,000,000.  There  all  the  traditions 
of  tliei)eo[)le  are  of  aggression  and  conquest  in  the  West. 
There  but  two  ranks  are  distinguishable, — serfs  and 
soldiers.  There  the  map  of  the  futui'e  includes  Constan- 
tinople and  Vienna  as  outposts  of  St.  Petersburg. 

"In  the  West,  an  o])posing  and  still  more  wonderful 
American  empire  is  emerging.  We  islanders  have  no 
conception  of  the  extraordinary  events  which  amid  the 
silence  of  the  earth  are  daily  adding  to  the  power  and 
])nde  of  this  gigantic  nation.  Within  three  years,  terri- 
tories more  extensive  th-m  these  thi'ee  kingdoms  [Great 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  59 

Britain,  Ireland,  and  Scotland],  France,  and  Italy  put 
togetlier,  have  been  quietly,  and  in  almost  '  matter-of- 
course'  fashion,  annexed  to  the  Union. 

"  Within  seventy  years,  seventeen  new  sovereignties, 
the  smallest  of  them  larger  than  Great  Britain,  have 
peaceably  united  themselves  to  the  Federation.  No 
standing  army  was  raised,  no  national  debt  was  sunk,  no 
great  exertion  was  made,  but  there  they  are.  And  the 
last  mail  brings  new.s  of  three  more  great  States  about 
to  be  joined  to  the  thirty, — Minnesota  in  the  northwest, 
Deseret  in  the  southwest,  and  California  on  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific.  These  three  States  will  cover  an  area 
equal  to  one-half  of  the  European  continent." 

Mitchell,  in  his  School  Geography  (fourth  revised 
edition),  p.  101,  speaking  of  the  United  States, 
says : — 

"When  it  is  considered  that  one  hundred  years  ago 
the  inhabitants  numbered  but  one  million,  it  presents 
the  most  striking  instance  of  national  growth  to  be  found 
in  the  history  of  mankind." 

Let  us  reduce  thes3  general  statements  to  the 
more  tano-ible  form  of  facts  and  fioures.  A  short 
time  before  the  great  Reformation  in  the  days  of 
Martin  Luther,  not  four  hundred  years  ago,  this 
western  hemisphere  was  discovered.  The  Reforma- 
tion awoke  the  nations,  that  were  fast  fettered  in 
the  galling  bonds  of  suj^erstition,  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  the  Heaven-born  right  (jf  every  man  to  worship 
God  according"  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience. 
But  rulers  are  loth  to  lose  their  power,  and  religious 
intolerance  still  oppressed  the  people.     Under  these 


60  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

circumstances,  a  body  of  religious  heroes  at  length 
determined  to  seek  in  the  wilds  of  America  that 
measure  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  they 
so  much  desired.  Two  hundred  and  sixty-two  years 
ago — Dec.  22,  1620 — the  Mayflower  landed  one  hun- 
dred of  these  voluntary  exiles  on  the  coast  of  New 
England.  "Here,"  says  Martyn,  "New  England 
was  born,"  and  this  was  "its  first  baby  cry, — a 
prayer  and  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord." 

Another  permanent  English  settlement  was  made 
at  Jamestown,  Va.,  in  1607.  In  process  of  time 
other  settlements  were  made  and  colonies  organized, 
which  were  all  subject  to  the  English  crown  till  the 
declaration  of  independence,  July  4,  1776. 

The  population  of  these  colonies,  according  to  the 
United  States  Magazine  of  August,  1855,  amounted 
in  1701,  to  262,000,  in  1749,  to  1,046,000;  in  1775, 
to  2,803,000  Then  commenced  the  struggle  of  the 
American  colonies  against  the  oppression  of  the 
mother  country.  In  1776,  they  declared  them- 
selves, as  in  justice  and  right  they  were  entitled  to 
be,  a  free  and  independent  nation.  In  1777,  dele- 
gates from  the  thirteen  original  States, — New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecti- 
cut, New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia, — in  Congress  assembled, 
adopted  Articles  of  Confederation.  In  1783,  the  war 
of  the  Revolution  closed  with  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  Great  Britain,  wheieby  our  independence  was 
acknowledged,  and  territory  ceded  to  the  extent  of 


ITS  RAPIB  PROGRESS.  61 

815,615  square  miles.  In  1787  the  Constitution 
was  framed,  and  ratified  by  the  foregoing  thirteen 
States;  and  on  the  1st  of  March,  1789,  it  went  into 
operation.  Then  the  American  ship  of  State  was 
fairly  launched,  with  less  than  one  million  square 
miles  of  territory,  and  about  three  millions  of  souls. 

Such  was  the  situation,  when,  in  our  interpreta- 
tion of  Rev.  13,  this  government  is  introduced  into 
the  prophecy  as  ''coming  up."  Our  territorial 
growth  since  that  time  has  been  as  folloAvs:  Louisi- 
ana, acquired  from  France  in  1803,  comprising  930,- 
928  square  miles  of  territory;  Florida,  from  Spain 
in  1821,  with  59,268  square  miles;  Texas,  admitted 
into  the  Union  in  1845,  with  237,504  square  miles; 
Oregon,  as  settled  by  treaty  in  1846,  with  380,425 
square  miles;  California,  as  conquered  from  Mexico 
in  1847,  with  649,762  square  miles;  Arizona  (New 
Mexico),  as  acquired  from  Mexico  by  treaty  in  1854, 
with  27,500  square  miles;  Alaska,  as  acquired  by 
purchase  from  Russia  in  1867,  with  577,390  square 
miles.  This  gives  a  grand  total  of  three  million  six 
hundred  seventy-eight  thousand  three  hundred  and 
ninety-two  (3,678,392)  square  miles  of  territory, 
which  is  about  four-ninths  of  all  North  America, 
and  more  than  one-fifteenth  of  the  whole  land  sur- 
face of  the  globe. 

And  while  this  expansion  has  been  thus  rapidly 
going  forward  here,  how  has  it  been  with  the  other 
leading  nations  of  the  globe  ?  Macmillian  &  Co., 
the  London  publishers,  in  announcing  their  "  States- 
man's Year  Book "  for  1867,  make  an  interesting 


62  THE   UNITED   STATES   IX  PROPHECY. 

statement  of  the  chancres  that  took  place  in  Europe 
during  the  half  century  between  the  years  1817  and 
1867.     They  say:— 

"Tho  half  century  has  extinguished  three  kingdoms, 
one  grand  duchy,  eight  duchies,  four  principalities,  one 
electorate,  and  four  republics.  Three  new  kingdoms 
have  arisen,  and  one  kingdom  has  been  transformed  into 
an  empire.  There  are  now  forty-one  states  in  Europe 
against  lifty-nine  which  existed  in  1817.  Not  less  re- 
markable IS  the  territorial  extension  of  the  superior 
states  in  the  world.  Russia  has  annexed  567,364  square 
miles;  the  United  States,  1,968,009;  France,  4,620; 
Prussia,  29,781;  Sardinia,  expanding  into  Italy,  has  in- 
creased by  83,041  ;  the  Indian  empire  has  been  aug- 
mented by  431,616.  The  jnincipal  states  that  have  lost 
territory  are  Turkey,  Mexico,  Austria,  Denmark,  and 
the  Netherlands." 

We  ask  the  especial  attention  of  the  reader  to 
these  particulars.  During  the  Ip.st  half  century, 
twenty-one  governments  have  disappeared  alto- 
gether, and  only  three  new  ones  have  arisen.  Five 
have  lost  in  territory  instead  of  gaining.  Only  five, 
besides  our  own,  have  added  to  their  domain.  And 
the  one  which  has  done  the  most  in  this  direction 
has  added  only  a  little  over  half  a  million  of  square 
miles,  whil^  Ave  have  added  nearly  two  millions. 
Thus  the  United  States  govctrnment  has  added  over 
fourteen  hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  territory 
more  than  any  other  single  nation,  and  over  eight 
hundred  thousand  more  than  have  been  added  by  all 
the  other  nations  of  the  earth  put  together.     And  all 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  OJ^ 


this,  remember,  at  that  very  epoch  when  the  proph- 
ecy of  the  two-horned  beast  bids  us  look  for  a  gov- 
ernment then  first  arising*  to  prominence  and  power. 
In  view  of  these  facts,  can  any  one  doubt,  looking 
the  whole  world  over,  which  government  it  is  that 
has  been,  during  this  time,  emphatically  "  coming 
up  "  ? 

In  point  of  population,  our  increase  since  1798, 
according  to  the  census  of  the  several  decades,  has 
been  as  follows:  In  1800,  the  total  number  of  inhab- 
itants in  the  United  States  was  5,305,925  ;  m  1810, 
7,239,814;  in  1820,  9,688,191;  in  1830,  12,866,020; 
in  1840,  17,069,453;  in  1850,  23,191,876;  m  1860, 
31,445,089;  in  1870,  38,555,983;  m  1880,  50,000,- 
000 ;  and  now  (1883),  upwards  of  52,000,000.  These 
figures  are  almost  too  large  for  the  mind  to  grasp 
readily.  Perha.ps  a  better  idea  can  be  formed  of  the 
rapid  increase  of  population  by  looking  at  a  few  rep- 
resentative cities.  Boston,  in  1792,  had  18,000  inhab- 
itants; it  now  has  362,839  :  Ncav  York,  m  1792, 
80,000;  now,  1,206,299.  Chicago,  about  thirty 
years  ago,  was  a  little  trading  post,  with  a  few  huts ; 
but  yet  it  contained  at  the  time  of  the  great  confla- 
gration in  October,  1871,  nearly  350,000  souls,  and 
now  has  650,000.  San  Francisco,  thirty  years  ago, 
was  a  barren  waste,  but  contains  to-day  z33,956  m- 
habitants. 

Our  industrial  growth  has  been  equally  remark- 
able. In  1792,  the  United  States  had  no  cotton - 
mills;  in  1850,  there  were  1,074,  employing  100,000 
hands.     Only  fifty-three  years  ago  the  first  section 


64  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

of  the  first  railroad  in  this  country — the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio — was  opened  to  a  distance  of  twenty-three 
miles.  We  have  now,  Jan.  1,  1883,  115,634  miles 
in  operation,  costing  $5,750,000,000.  It  was  only 
forty-three  years  ago  that  the  magnetic  telegraph 
was  invented.  Now  the  estimated  length  of  tele- 
graph wire  in  operation  is  over  250,000  miles.  In 
1833,  the  first  reaper  and  mower  was  constructed, 
and  in  1846  the  first  sewing  machine  was  completed. 
Think  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  both  of  these 
classes  of  machines  now  in  use.  And  there  are  now 
more  lines  of  telegraph  and  railroad  projected  and 
in  process  of  construction  than  ever  before,  and 
greater  facilities  and  larger  plans  for  manufactories 
of  all  kinds  than  at  any  previous  point  of  time. 
And  should  these  industries  increase  in  the  same 
geometrical  ratio,  and  time  continue  a  few  years, 
the  figures  we  now  chronicle  would  then  read  about 
as  the  records  of  a  century  ago  now  read  to  us. 

Since  the  last  edition  of  this  work  was  issued,  the 
electric  light,  the  phonograph,  the  microphone,  and 
the  telephone  have  appeared  in  this  country,  and  as- 
tonished the  world  with  their  marvelous  achieve- 
ments. And  just  now  (March,  1883)  notices  are  be- 
ginning t(^  appear  in  the  papers  of  a  new  application 
of  electricity,  by  which  one  is  actually  enabled  to 
see  the  person  who  is  addressing  him  at  the  other 
end  of  the  telephone,  many  miles,  perhaps,  away. 
This  would  seem  to  be  reaching  the  last  possible  re- 
sults in  the  way  of  tlie  annihilation  of  time  and 
space  in  regard  to  both  hearing  and  seeing. 


ITS   RAPID  PROGRESS.  65 

We  take  the  following  article  from  "  The  Centen- , 
nial  History  of  the  United  States,"  published  in  1876 
at  Hartford,  Ct.,  pp.  768-779:— 

"  Here,  on  the  verge  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of 
the  bu'th  of  our  Republic,  let  us  take  a  brief  review  of 
the  material  and  intellectual  progress  of  our  country  dur- 
ing the  first  hundred  years  of  its  political  independ- 
ence. 

"  The  extent  of  the  conceded  domain  of  the  United 
States,  in  1776,  was  not  more  than  half  a  million  square 
miles;  now  [when  the  word  now  appears  in  this  relation 
it  means  the  year  1875]  it  is  more  than  three  million 
three  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  Its  population 
then  was  about  a  million  and  a  half;  now  it  is  forty 
million. 

"  The  products  of  the  soil  are  the  foundations  of  the 
material  wealth  of  a  nation.  It  has  been  eminently  so 
with  us,  notwithstanding  the  science  of  agriculture  and 
the  construction  of  good  implements  of  labor  were  greatly 
neglected  until  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 

"A  hundred  years  ago  the  agricultural  interests  of  our 
country  were  mostly  in  the  hands  of  uneducated  men. 
Science  was  not  applied  to  husbandry.  A  spirit  of  im- 
provement was  scarcely  known.  The  son  copied  the 
ways  of  his  father.  He  worked  with  no  other  imple- 
ments and  pursued  no  other  methods  of  culfcivaition;  and 
he  who  attempted  a  change  was  regarded  as  a  visionary 
or  an  innovator.  Very  little  associated  eftbrt  for  im- 
provement in  the  business  of  farming  was  then  seen. 
The  first  association  for  such  a  purpose  was  formed  in 
the  South,  and  was  known  as  the  '  South  Carolina  Agri- 
cultural Society,'  organized  in  1784.     A  similar  society 


66  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PHOPHECY. 

was  formed  in  Pennsylvania  the  following  year.  Now 
there  are  State,  county,  and  even  town  agricultural  so- 
cieties in  almost  every  part  of  the  Union. 

"Agricultural  implements  were  rude  and  simple. 
They  consisted  chiefly  of  the  plow,  harrow,  spade,  hoe, 
hand-rake,  scythe,  sickle,  and  wooden  fork.  The  plow 
Jiad  a  clumsy  wrought-iron  share  with  wooden  mold- 
board,  which  was  sometimes  j^lated  with  pieces  of  old  tin 
or  sheet  iron.  The  rest  of  the  structure  was  equally 
clumsy;  and  the  implement  required,  in  its  use,  twice 
thi  amount  of  strength,  of  man  and  beast,  that  the  pres- 
ent plow  does.  Improvements  in  the  construction  of 
plows  during  the  past  fifty  years  save  to  the  country  an- 
nually, in  work  and  teams,  at  least  8 12,000,000.  The 
first  patent  for  a  cast-iron  plow  was  issued  in  1797.  To 
the  beginning  of  1875,  about  four  hundred  patents  have 
been  granted. 

"  A  hundred  years  ago  the  seed  was  sown  by  hand, 
and  the  entire  crop  was  harvested  by  hard  manual  labor. 
The  grass  was  cut  with  a  scythe,  and  '  cured '  and  gath- 
ered with  a  fork  and  hand-rake.  The  grain  was  cut 
with  a  sickle,  threshed  with  a  flail  or  the  treading  of 
horses,  and  was  cleared  of  the  chaff  by  a  large  clamshell- 
shaped  fan  of  wicker-work,  used  in  a  gentle  breeze.  The 
drills,  seed-sowers,  cultivators,  mowers,  reapers,  thresh- 
ing-machines, and  fanning-mills  of  our  day,  were  all  un- 
known. They  are  the  inventions  of  a  time  within  the 
memory  of  living  men.  Abortive  attempts  were  made 
toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  to  introduce  a  thresh- 
ing-machine from  England,  but  the  flail  held  sway  until 
two  generations  ago. 

"  Indian  corn,  tobacco,  wheat,  ry(»,  oats,  potatoes,  and 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  ()7 

hay  were  staple  products  of  the  farm  a  hundred  years 
ago.  Timothy  and  orchard  grass  had  then  just  been  in- 
troduced. The  cultivation  of  all  these  has  been  gi-eatly 
increased.  Then,  nearly  the  whole  jjroducts,  excepting 
tobacco,  were  consumed  by  the  million  and  a  half  of  peo- 
ple; now,  forty  millions  are  supported  by  them,  and  vast 
amounts  of  agricultural  products  are  exported  to  foreign 
countries.  At  the  present  time  these  products  amount 
annually,  on  an  average,  in  round  numbers,  as  follows: 
Indian  corn,  900,000,000  bushels;  wheat,  270,000,000; 
rye,  22,000,000;  oats,  300,000,000;  potatoes,  165,000,- 
000;  and  buckwlieat  (introduced  within  the  century), 
15,000,000.  The  hay  crop  averages  about  28,000,000 
tons;  the  tobacco  crop,  about  265,000,000  pounds;  flax, 
28,000,000  pounds;  and  hemp,  12,000  tons.  To  these 
agricultural  products  have  been  added,  within  the  cen- 
tury, barley,  cotton,  and  sugar.  Of  barley,  the  average 
crop  is  about  28,000,000  bushels;  cotton,  about  2,000,- 
000,000  pounds;  and  sugar,  120,000  hogsheads  of  1000 
pounds  each.  The  expansion  of  the  cotton  culture  has 
been  marvelous.  In  1784,  eight  bales  of  cotton  sent  to 
England  from  Charleston  were  seized  by  the  custom- 
house authorities  in  Liverpool,  on  the  ground  that  so  large 
a  quantity  could  not  have  come  from  the  United  States. 
The  progress  of  its  culture  was  slow  until  the  invention  of 
the  gin,  by  Mr.  Whitney,  for  clearing  the  seed  from  the 
fiber.  It  did  the  work  of  many  persons.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton  rapidly  spread.  From  1792  to  1800,  the 
amount  of  cotton  raised  had  increased  from  138,000 
pounds  to  18,000,000  pounds,  all  of  which  was  wanted 
in  England,  where  improved  machinery  was  manufactur- 
ing it  into  cloth.     The  value  of  slave  labor  was  increased^ 


68  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

and  a  then  dying  institution  lived  in  vigor  until  killed 
by  the  civil  war.  The  value  of  the  cotton  croj)  in  1792 
■was  $30,000 ;  now  its  average  annual  value  is  about 
$180,000,000. 

"Fruit  culture  a  hundred  years  ago  was  very  little 
thought  of.  Inferior  varieties  of  apples,  pears,  peaches, 
plums,  and  cherries  were  cultivated  for  family  use.  It 
was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  that 
any  large  orchards  were  ])lanted.  The  cultivation  of 
grapes  and  berries  was  almost  wholly  unknown  fifty 
years  ago.  The  first  horticultural  society  was  formed  in 
1829.  Before  that  time  fruit  was  not  an  item  of  com- 
mercial statistics  in  our  country.  Now,  the  average  an- 
nual value  of  fruit  is  estimated  at  $40,000,000.  Our 
grape  crop  alone  exceeds  in  value  $10,000,000. 

"  Improvements  in  live  stock  have  all  been  made  with- 
in the  present  century.  The  native  breeds  were  de- 
scended from  stock  sent  over  to  the  colonies,  and  were 
generally  inferior.  In  1772  Washington  wrote  in  his 
diary :  '  With  one  hundred  milch  cows  on  my  farm,  I 
have  to  buy  butter  for  my  family.'  Now  11,000,000 
cows  supply  40,000,000  inhabitants  with  milk,  butter, 
and  cheese,  and  allow  large  exports  of  the  latter  article. 
At  least  225,000,000  gallons  of  milk  are  sold  annually. 
The  annual  butter  product  of  our  country  now  is  more 
than  500,000,000  pounds,  and  of  cheese,  70,000,000. 
There  are  now  about  30,000,000  horned  cattle  in  the 
United  States,  equal  in  average  quality  to  those  of  any 
country  in  the  world. 

"  A  hundred  years  ago,  mules  and  asses  were  chiefly 
used  for  farming  purposes  and  ordinary  transportation. 
Carriage-horses  were  imported  from  Europe.     Now,  our 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  69 

horses  of  every  kind  are  equal  to  those  of  any  other  coun- 
try. It  is  estimated  that  there  are  about  10,000,000 
horses  in  the  United  States,  or  one  to  every  four  per- 
sons. 

"  Sheep  husbandry  has  greatly  improved.  The  infe- 
rior breeds  of  the  last  century,  raised  only  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  supply  the  table,  and  the  domestic  looms  in 
the  manufacture  of  yarns  and  coarse  cloth,  have  been 
superseded  by  some  of  the  finer  varieties.  Merino  sheep 
v/ere  introduced  early  in  this  century.  The  embargo  be- 
fore the  war  of  1812,  and  the  establishment  of  manufact- 
ures here  afterward,  stimulated  sheep  and  wool  raising, 
and  these  have  been  important  items  in  our  national 
wealth.  There  are  noAV  about  30,000,000  sheep  in  the 
United  States.  California  is  taking  the  lead  as  a  wool- 
producing  State.  In  1870,  the  wool  product  of  the 
United  States  amounted  to  100,000,000  pounds. 

*'  Improvements  in  the  breed  of  swine  during  the  last 
fifty  years  have  been  very  great.  They  have  become  a 
large  item  in  our  national  commercial  statistics.  At 
this  time  there  are  about  26,000,000  head  of  swine  in 
this  country.  Enormous  quantities  of  pork,  packed  and 
in  the  form  of  bacon,  are  exported  annually. 

"  These  brief  statistics  of  the  principal  products  of  ag- 
riculture, show  its  development  in  this  country  and  its 
importance.  Daniel  Webster  said,  '  Agriculture  feeds 
us  ;  to  a  great  extent  it  clothes  us ;  without  it  we  should 
not  have  manufactures  ;  we  should  not  have  commerce. 
They  all  stand  together  like  pillars  in  a  cluster,  the  larg- 
est in  the  center,  and  that  largest — Agriculture.' 

"  The  great  manufacturing  interests  of  our  country 
are  the  product  of  the  century  now  closing.     The  policy 


70  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

of  the  British  government  was  to  suppress  manufactur- 
ing in  the  English- American  colonies,  and  cloth-making 
was  confined  to  the  household.  When  non-importation 
agreements  cut  off  supplies  from  Great  Britain,  the  Irish 
flax-wheel  and  the  Dutch  wool-wheel  were  made  active 
in  families.  All  other  kinds  of  manufacturing  were  of 
small  account  in  this  country  until  the  concluding  dec- 
ade of  the  last  century.  In  Great  Britain  the  inventions 
of  Hargreaves,  Arkwright,  and  Crompton,  had  stimu- 
lated the  cotton  and  woolen  manufactures,  and  the 
effects  finally  reached  the  United  States.  Massachu- 
setts offered  a  grant  of  money  to  promote  the  establish- 
ment of  a  cotton-mill,  and  one  was  built  at  Beverly  in 
1787,  the  first  erected  in  the  United  States.  It  had  not 
the  improved  English  machinery.  In  1789,  Samuel 
Slater  came  from  England  with  a  full  knowledge  of  that 
machiner}/,  and  in  connection  with  Messrs.  Almy  and 
Brown  of  Providence,  B.  I.,  established  a  cotton  factory 
there  in  1790,  with  the  improved  implements.  Then 
was  really  begun  the  manufacture  of  cotton  in  the  United 
States.  Twenty  years  later,  the  number  of  cotton-mills 
in  our  country  was  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  v/ith 
90,000  spindles.  The  business  has  greatly  expanded. 
In  Massachusetts,  the  foremost  State  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  cotton,  there  are  now  over  two  hundred  mills, 
employing,  in  prosperous  times,  50,000  persons,  and  a 
capital  of  more  than  $30,000,000.  The  city  of  Lowell 
was  founded  by  the  erection  of  a  cotton-mill  there  in 
1822  ;  and  there  the  printing  of  calico  was  first  begun  in 
the  United  States  soon  afterward. 

''With  wool,  as  with  cotton,  the    manufacture   into 
cloth  was  confined  to  liouseholds,  for   Iiome  use,  until 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  71 

near  tlie  close  of  the  last  century.  The  wool  was  carded 
between  two  cards  held  in  the  hands  of  the  operator, 
and  all  the  processes  were  slow  and  crude.  In  1797, 
Asa  Whitteniore  of  Massachusetts  invented  a  cardinsr- 

o 

machine,  and  this  led  to  the  establishment  of  woolen 
manufactures  outside  of  families.  In  his  famous  report 
on  manufactures,  in  1791,  Alexander  Hamilton  said 
that  of  woolen  goods,  hats  only  had  reached  maturity. 
The  business  had  been  carried  on  with  success  in  colo- 
nial times.  The  wool  was  felted  by  hand,  and  furs  were 
added  by  the  same  slow  process.  This  manual  labor 
continued  until  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  when 
it  was  supplanted  by  machinery.  Immense  numbers  of 
hats  of  every  kind  are  now  made  in  our  country. 

"  At  the  time  of  Hamilton's  report,  there  was  only 
one  woolen-mill  in  the  United  States.  This  was  at  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut.  In  it  were  made  cloths  and  cassi- 
meres.  Now,  woolen  factories  may  be  found  in  almost 
every  State  in  the  Union,  turning  out  annually  the 
finest  cloths,  cassimeres,  flannels,  carpets,  and  every 
variety  of  goods  made  of  wool.  In  this  business,  as  in 
cotton,  Massachusetts  has  taken  the  lead.  The  value  of 
manufactured  woolens  in  the  United  States,  at  the  close 
of  the  civil  war,  was  estimated  at  about  $60,000,000. 
The  supply  of  wool  in  the  United  States  has  never  been 
equal  to  the  demand. 

"The  smelting  of  iron  ore  and  the  manufacture  of 
iron  has  become  an  immense  business  in  our  country. 
The  development  of  ore  deposits  and  of  coal  used  in 
smelting,  are  among  the  marvels  of  our  history.  English 
navigation  laws  discouraged  iron  manuficture  in  the  col- 
onies.    Only  blast-furnaces  for  making  pig-iron  were  al- 


72  THE    UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

lowed.  This  product  was  nearly  all  sent  to  England  in 
exchange  for  manufactured  articles;  and  the  whole 
amount  of  such  exportation,  at  the  beginning  of  the  old 
war  for  independence,  was  less  than  8,000  tons  annually. 
The  colonists  were  wholly  dependent  upon  Great  Britain 
for  articles  manufactured  of  ii'on  and  steel,  excepting 
rude  implements  made  by  blacksmiths  for  domestic  use. 
During  the  war,  the  Continental  Congress  were  com- 
pelled to  establish  manufactures  of  iron  and  steel. 
These  were  chiefly  in  Northern  New  Jersey,  the  Hud- 
son Highlands,  and  Western  Connecticut,  where  excel- 
lent ore  was  found,  and  forests  in  abundance  for  making 
charcoal.  The  first  use  of  anthracite  coal  for  smelting 
iron  was  in  the  Continental  Armory  at  Carlisle,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1775.  But  charcoal  was  imiversally  used 
until  1840  for  smelting  ores. 

"Now,  iron  is  manufactured  in  our  country  in 
every  form  from  a  nail  to  a  locojnotive.  A  vast  number 
of  machines  have  been  invented  for  carrying  on  these 
manufactures;  and  the  products  in  cutlery,  fire-arms, 
railway  materials,  and  machinery  of  every  kind,  employ 
vast  numbers  of  men  and  a  great  amount  of  capital. 
Our  locomotive  builders  are  regarded  as  the  best  in  the 
world ;  and  no  nation  on  the  globe  can  compete  with  us 
in  the  construction  of  steamboats  of  every  kind,  from 
the  iron-clad  war  steamer  to  the  harbor  tug. 

"  In  the  manufacture  of  copper,  silver,  and  gold,  there 
has  been  great  progress.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution, 
no  manufactures  of  the  kind  existed  in  our  country. 
Now,  the  manufacture  of  copper-ware  yearl}^,  of  every 
kind,  and  jewelry  and  watches,  has  become  a  large  item 
in  our  commercial  tables. 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS.  73 

"The  manufactm-e  of  paper  is  a  very  large  item  in  tlie 
business  of  our  country.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution 
there  were  only  three  mills  in  the  United  States.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  a  demand  sprung  up,  and  Wil- 
cox, in  his  mill  near  Philadelphia,  made  the  first  writing- 
paper  produced  in  this  country.  He  manufactured  the 
thick,  coarse  paper  on  which  the  continental  money  was 
printed.  So  early  as  1794  the  business  had  so  increased 
that  there  were  in  Pennsylvania  alone  forty-eight  paper- 
mills.  There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  the  business 
ever  since.  Within  the  last  twenty-five  years,  that  in- 
crease has  been  enormous,  and  yet  not  •  sufficient  to  meet 
the  demand.  Improvements  in  printing-presses  have 
cheapened  the  production  of  books  and  newspapers,  and 
the  circulation  of  these  has  greatly  increased.  It  is 
estimated  that  the  amount  of  paper  now  manufactured 
annually  in  the  United  States  for  these,  for  paper-hang- 
ings, and  for  ^vi-apping  paper,  is  full  800,000,000  pounds. 
The  supply  of  raw  material  here  has  not  been  equal  to 
the  demand,  and  rags  to  the  value  of  about  $2,000,000 
in  a  year  have  been  imported. 

'"  The  manufacture  of  ships,  carriages,  wagons,  clocks 
and  watches,  pins,  leather,  glass,  Indian-rubber,  silk, 
wood,  sewing-machines,  and  a  variety  of  other  things 
wholly  unknown  or  feebly  carried  on  a  hundred  years 
ago,  now  flourish,  and  form  very  important  items  in  our 
domestic  commerce.  The  sewing-machine  is  an  Ameri- 
can invention,  and  the  first  really  practical  one  was 
fii'st  ofiered  to  the  public  by  Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  about  thirty 
years  ago.  A  patent  had  been  obtained  for  one  five 
years  before.  Great  improvements  have  been  made, 
and  now  a  very  extensive  business  in  the  manufacture 


74  THE    UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

and  sale  of  sewing-machines  is  carried  on  by  different 
companies,  employing  a  large  amount  of  capital  and 
costly  machinery,  and  a  great  number  of  persons. 

"  The  mining  interests  of  the  United  States  have  be- 
come an  eminent  part  of  the  national  wealth.  The  ex- 
traction of  lead,  iron,  copper,  the  precious  metals,  and 
coal,  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  is  a  business  that  has 
almost  wholly  grown  up  within  the  last  hundred  years. 
In  1754  a  lead  mine  Avas  worked  in  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia; and  in  1778,  Dubuque,  a  French  miner,  worked 
lead-ore  deposits  on  tho  western  bank  of  the  upper 
Mississippi.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  discovered  copper 
in  the  Lake  Superior  region  more  than  two  hundred 
years  ago,  and  that  remains  the  chief  source  of  our  native 
copper  ore.  That  metal  is  produced  in  smaller  quantities 
in  other  States,  chiefly  in  the  West  and  Southwest. 

"  A  lust  for  gold,  and  the  knowledge  of  its  existence 
in  America,  was  the  chief  incentive  to  emigration  to 
these  shores.  But  within  the  domain  of  our  Republic 
very  little  of  it  was  found,  until  that  domain  was  ex- 
tended far  toward  the  Pacific  ocean.  It  was  unsus- 
pected until  long  after  the  Revolution.  Finally,  gold 
was  discovered  among  tho  mountains  of  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  in  Georgia.  North  Carolina 
was  the  first  State  in  the  Union  to  send  gold  to  the  mint 
in  Philadelphia.  Its  first  small  contribution  was  in 
1804.  From  that  time  until  1823  the  average  amount 
produced  from  North  Carolina  mines  did  not  exceed 
$2,500  annually.  Virginia's  first  contribution  was  in 
1829,  when  that  of  North  Carolina,  for  that  year,  was 
$128,000.  Georgia  sent  its  first  contribution  in  1830. 
It  amounted   to  ^212,000,     The    product   so  increased 


ITS   EAPID   PROGRESS.  75 

that  branch  mints  were  established  in  North  Carolina 
and  Georgia  in  1837  and  1838,  and  another  in  New 
Orleans. 

"In  1848,  gold  was  discovered  on  the  American  fork 
of  the  Sacramento  River  in  California,  and  soon  after- 
ward elsewhere  in  that  region.  A  gold  fever  seized  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  thousands  rushed  to 
California  in  search  of  the  precious  metals.  Within  a 
year  from  the  discovery,  nearly  50,000  people  were  there. 
Less  than  five  years  afterward,  California,  in  one  year,  sent 
to  the  United  States  mint  full  ^40,000,000  in  gold.  Its 
entire  gold  product  to  this  time  is  estimated  at  more 
than  1800,000,000.  Over  all  the  far  Western  States 
and  Territories  the  precious  metals,  gold  and  silver, 
seem  to  be  scattered  in  profusion,  and  the  amount  of 
mineral  wealth  yet  to  be  discovered  there  seems  to  be 
incalculable.  Our  coal  fields  seem  to  be  inexhaustible ; 
and  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  in  portions  of  our 
country,  flow  millions  of  barrels  annually  of  petroleum, 
or  rock  oil,  afibrding  the  cheapest  illuminating  material 
in  the  world. 

"Mineral  coal  was  first  discovered  and  used  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  the  period  of  the  Revolution.  A  boat  load 
was  sent  down  the  Susquehanna  from  Wilkesbarre  for 
the  use  of  the  Continental  works  at  Carlisle.  But  it 
was  not  much  used  before  the  war  of  1812  ;  and  the  regu- 
lar business  of  mining  this  fuel  did  not  become  a  part  of 
the  commerce  of  the  country  before  the  year  1820,  when 
365  tons  were  sent  to  Philadelphia.  At  the  present 
time  the  amount  of  coal  sent  to  market  from  the  Amer- 
ican mines,  of  all  kinds,  is  eo^ual  to  full  15,000,000  tons 
annually. 


76  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

''The  commerce  of  the  United  States  has  had  a  won- 
derful growth.  Its  most  active  development  was  seen 
in  New  England.  British  legislation  imposed  heavy- 
burdens  upon  it  in  colonial  times,  and  like  manufact- 
ures, it  was  greatly  depressed.  The  New  Englanders 
built  many  vessels  for  their  own  use,  but  more  for  others ; 
and  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Kevolution,  there 
was  quite  a  brisk  trade  carried  on  between  the  English- 
American  colonies  and  the  West  Indies,  as  well  as  with 
the  mother  country.  The  colonists  exported  tobacco, 
lumber,  shingles,  staves,  masts,  turpentine,  hemp,  flax, 
pot  and  pearl  ashes,  salted  fish  in  great  quantities,  some 
corn,  live  stock,  pig-ii'on,  and  skins  and  furs  procured 
by  traffic  with  the  Indians.  Whale  and  cod  fishing  was 
an  important  branch  of  commerce.  In  the  former,  there 
were  160  vessels  employed  at  the  beginning  of  1775, 
and  sperm  candles  and  whale  oil  were  exported  to  Great 
Britain.  In  exchange  for  New  England  products,  a 
large  amount  of  molasses  was  brought  from  the  West 
Indies,  and  made  into  rum  to  sell  to  the  Indians  and 
fishermen,  and  to  exchange  for  slaves  on  the  coast  of 
Africa.  The  entire  exports  of  the  colonies  in  the  year 
1770  amounted  in  value  to  $14,262,000. 

"At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  British  government  re- 
fused to  enter  into  commercial  relations  with  the 
United  States  government,  believing  that  the  weak 
league  of  States  Avould  soon  be  dissolved ;  but  when  a 
vigorous  national  government  was  formed  in  1789, 
Great  Britain,  for  the  first,  sent  a  resident  minister  to 
our  government,  and  entered  into  a  commercial  arrange 
ment  with  us.  Meanwhile,  a  brisk  trade  had  sprung  up 
between  the  colonies  and  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  with 


ITS   RAPID  PROGRESS. 


other  countries.  From  1784  to  1790  the  exports  from 
the  United  States  to  Great  Britain  amounted  to  $33,- 
000,000,  and  the  imports  from  Great  Britain  to  $87,000,- 
000.  At  the  same  time  several  new  and  important 
branches  of  industry  had  appeared,  and  flourished  with 
great  rapidity. 

"From  that  time  the  expansion  of  American  commerce 
was  marvelous,  in  spite  of  the  checks  it  received  from 
British  jealousy,  wars,  piracies  in  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  and  elsewhere,  and  the  effects  ot  embargoes.  The 
tonnage  of  American  ships,  which  in  1789  was  201,562, 
was  in  1870  more  than  7,000,000.  The  exports  from 
the  United  States  in  1870  amounted  to  about  S464,- 
000,000,  and  the  imports  to  about  $395,000,000  in  gold. 

"  The  domestic  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  im- 
mense. A  vast  sea-coast  line,  great  lakes,  large  rivers, 
and  many  canals,  afibrd  scope  for  inter-State  commerce 
and  with  adjoining  countries,  not  equaled  by  those  of 
any  nation.  The  canal  and  railway  systems  in  the 
United  States  are  the  product  chiefly  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. So  also  is  navigation  by  steam,  on  which  river 
commerce  chiefly  relies  for  transportation.  This  was 
begun  in  the  year  1807.  The  first  canals  made  in  this 
country  were  two  short  ones,  for  a  water  passage  around 
the  South  Hadley  and  Montague  Falls,  in  Massachusetts. 
These  were  constructed  in  1792.  At  about  the  same 
time  the  Inland  Lock  jN'avigation  Companies  in  the  State 
of  New  York  began  their  work.  The  Middlesex  Canal, 
connecting  Lowell  with  Boston  harbor,  was  completed  in 
1808,  and  the  great  Erie  Canal,  363  miles  in  length,  was 
finished  in  1825,  at  a  cost  of  almost  $8,000,000.  The 
aggregate  length  of  canals  built  in  the  United  States  is 
3,200  miles. 


78  THE   UXITED   STATES    tN   PHOPHECY. 

"  The  first  railway  buih  in  the  United  States  was  one 
three  miles  in  length,  that  connected  the  granite  quar- 
ries at  Quincjj  Mass.,  with  the  Neponset  Eiver.  It 
was  completed  in  1827  ;  horse-power  was  used.  The 
first  use  of  a  locomotive  in  this  country  was  in  1829, 
when  one  was  put  upon  a  raihvay  that  connected  the 
coal  mines  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company 
with  Honesdale."^  Now,  railways  form  a  thick  network 
all  over  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
are  rapidly  spreading  over  the  States  and  Territories  be- 
yond, to  the  Pacific  ocean.  To  these  facilities  for  com- 
mercial operations  must  be  added  the  Electro-Magnetic 
Telegraph,  an  American  invention,  as  a  method  of 
transmitting  intelligence,  and  giving  warning  signals  to 
the  shipping  and  agricultural  interests  concerning  the 
actual  and  probable  state  of  the  weather  each  day.  The 
first  line,  forty  miles  in  length,  was  constructed  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington  in  1844.  Now  the  lines  are 
extended  to  every  part  of  our  Union,  and  all  over  the 
civilized  world,  traversing  oceans  and  rivers,  and  bring- 
ing Persia  and  New  York  within  one  hour's  space  of  in- 
tercommunication. 

"Banking  institutions  and  insurance  companies  are 
intimately  connected  with  commerce.  The  first  bank  in 
the  United  States  was  established  in  1781,  as  a  financial 
aid  to  the  government.  It  was  called  the  Bank  of  North 
America.  The  Bank  of  New  York  and  Bank  of  Massa- 
chusetts were  established  soon  afterward.  On  the  rec- 
ommendation of  Hamiltoli,  in  1791,  a  national  bank  was 
established  at  Philadelphia,  with  a  capital  of  $10,000,000, 

*  This  was  for  freight  only.  The  first  passenger  railway  was  opened 
in  ISno,  as  stated  on  pp.  03,  04. 


ITS   RAPID  PROGRESS.  70 

of  which  sum  the  government  subscribed  |2,000,000. 
Various  banking  systems,  under  State  charters,  have 
since  been  tried.  During  the  civil  war  a  system  of  na- 
tional banking  was  established,  by  which  there  is  a  uni- 
form paper  currency  throughout  the  tJnion.  The  num- 
ber of  national  banks  at  the  close  of  1 863  was  66  ;  the 
number  at  the  close  of  1874  was  not  far  from  1,700,  in- 
volving capital  to  the  amount  of  almost  ^500, 000,000. 

*'  Fire,  marine,  and  life  insurance  companies  have 
flourished  greatly  in  the  United  States.  The  first  in- 
corporated company  was  established  in  1792,  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  known  as  the  '  Fire  Insurance  Company  of 
North  America.'  Another  was  established  in  Provi- 
dence, Phode  Island,  in  1799,  and  another  in  New  York 
in  1806.  The  first  life  insurance  company  was  chartered 
in  Massachusetts  in  25,  and  the  'New  York  Life  In- 
surance and  Trust  Company '  was  established  in  1829- 
All  others  are  of  recent  organization.  As  a  rule,  the 
business  of  insurance  of  every  kind  is  profitable  to  the 
insurers  and  the  insured.  amount  of  capital  en- 

gaged in  it  is  enormous.  The  fire  risks  alone,  at  the 
close  of  1874,  amounted  to  about  $200,000,000. 

"  Our  growth  in  population  has  been  steadily  increased 
by  immigration  from  Europe.  It  began  very  moderately 
after  the  Revolution.  From  1784  to  1794  the  average 
number  of  immigrants  a  year  was  4,000.  During  tne 
last  ten  years  the  number  of  persons  who  have  emigrated 
to  the  United  States  from  Europe  is  estimated  at  over 
2,000,000,  who  brought  with  them,  in  the  aggregate, 
$200,000,000  in  money.  This  capital  and  the  productive 
labor  of  the  immigrants  have  added  much  to  the  wealth 
of  our  country.     This  immigration  and  wealth  is  less 


80  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

than  during  the  ten  years  preceding  the  civil  war,  din- 
ing which  time  there  came  to  this  country  from  Europe 
2,814,554  persons,  bringing  with  them  an  average  of  at 
least  1100,  or  an  aggregate  of  over  §281,000,000. 

"  The  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Invention  have  made  great 
progress  in  our  country  during  the  last  hundred  years. 
These,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  were  of  little  ac- 
count in  estimating  the  advance  of  the  race.  The  prac- 
titioners of  the  Arts  of  Design,  at  that  period,  were 
chiefly  Europeans.  Of  native  artists,  C.  W.  Peale  and 
J.  S.  Copley  stood  at  the  head  of  painters.  There  were 
no  sculptors,  and  no  engravers  of  any  eminence.  Archi- 
tects, in  the  proper  sense,  there  were  none.  After  the 
Revolution  a  few  good  painters  appeared,  and  these 
have  gi-adually  increased  in  numbers  and  excellence, 
without  much  encouragement,  except  in  portraiture,  un- 
til within  the  last  twenty-five  years.  We  have  now 
good  sculptors,  architects,  engravers,  and  lithogi-aphers; 
and  in  all  of  these  departments,  as  well  as  in  photog- 
raphy, very  great  progress  has  been  made  within  the 
last  thirty  or  forty  years.  In  wood  engraving,  especially, 
the  improvement  has  been  wonderful.  Forty  years  ago 
there  were  not  more  than  a  dozen  practitioners  of  the 
art  in  this  country;  now  there  are  between  four  and  five 
hundred.  At  the  head  of  that  class  of  artists  stands  the 
name  of  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson,  who  was  the  first  man 
who  ensfraved  on  wood  in  the  United  States.  Ho  died 
in  1870  at  the  age  of  ninety-five  years.  In  bank-note 
engi'aving  we  have  attained  to  greater  excellence  than 
any  other  people.  It  is  considered  the  most  perfect 
branch  of  the  art  in  design  and  execution. 

"  Associations  have  been  formed  for  improvements  in 


ITS  RAPID  PROGRESS.  81 

the  Arts  of  Design.  The  first  was  organized  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1791,  by  C.  W.  Peale,  in  connection  with 
Ceracchi,  the  Italian  sculptor.  It  failed.  In  1802  the 
American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  was  organized  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  in  1807  the  Pennsylvania  Acad- 
emy of  Fine  Arts,  yet  in  existence,  was  established  in 
Philadelphia.  In  1826  the  American  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts  was  superseded  by  the  National  Academy  of  De- 
sign, in  the  city  of  New  York,  which  is  now  a  flourish- 
ing institution. 

"In  education  and  literature  our  progress  has  kept 
pace  with  other  things.  At  the  very  beginning  of  set- 
tlements, the  common  school  was  made  the  special  care 
of  the  State  in  New  England.  Not  so  much  attention 
was  given  to  this  matter  elsewhere  in  the  colonies.  The 
need  of  higher  institutions  of  learning  was  early  felt; 
and  eighteen  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims 
from  the  Mayflower,  Harvard  College  was  founded. 
When  the  war  for  independence  began,  there  were  nine 
colleges  in  the  colonies;  namely.  Harvard,  at  Cambridge, 
Mass. ;  William  and  Mary,  at  Williamsburg,  Va. ;  Yale, 
at  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Prince- 
ton; University  of  Pennsylvania,  at  Philadelphia;  King's 
(now  Columbia)  in  the  city  of  New  York;  Brown  Uni- 
versity, at  Providence,  R.  I.;  Dartmouth,  at  Hanover, 
N.  H.;  and  Rutgers  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  There 
ajre  now  about  300  colleges  in  the  United  States. 

"  At  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  teaching  in  the 
common  schools  was  very  meager,  and  remained  so  for 
full  thirty  years.  Only  reading,  spelling,  and  arithmetic 
were  regularly  taught.  The  Psalter,  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  the  Bible  constituted  the  reading-books.  No 
6 


82  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

liistory  was  read ;  no  geograjihy  or  grammar  was  taught; 
and  until  the  putting  forth  of  Webster's  spelling-book  in 
1783,  pronunciation  was  left  to  the  judgment  of  teachers. 
That  book  produced  a  revolution. 

"  As  the  nation  advanced  in  wealth  and  intelligence, 
the  necessity  for  correct  popular  education  became  more 
and  more  manifest,  and  associated  eflforts  were  made  for 
the  improvement  of  the  schools  by  providing  for  the 
training  of  teachers,  under  the  respective  phases  of 
Teachers'  Associations,  Educational  Periodicals,  Normal 
Schools,  and  Teachers'  Institutes.  The  first  of  these  so- 
cieties in  this  country  was  tiie  '  Middlesex  County  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Improvement  of  Common  Schools,'  estab- 
lished at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  in  1799.  But  little 
of  importance  was  done  in  that  direction  until  within  the 
last  forty-five  years.  Now,  provision  is  made  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  Union,  nob  only  for  the  support  of  common 
schools,  but  for  training-schools  for  teachers.  Since  the 
civil  war,  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  establish  com- 
mon-school systems  in  the  late  slave-labor  States,  that 
should  include  among  the  beneficiaries  the  colored  popu- 
lation.    Much  has  been  done  in  that  regard. 

u  Yery  great  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  or- 
ganization and  discipline  of  the  public  schools  in  cities 
within  the  last  thirty  years.  Free  schools  are  rapidly 
spreading  their  beneficent  influence  over  the  whole 
Union,  and  in  some  States  laws  have  been  made  that 
compel  all  children  of  a  certain  age  to  go  to  school.  In- 
stitutions for  the  special  culture  of  young  women  in  all 
that  pertains  to  college  education,  have  been  established 
within  a  few  years.  The  pioneer  in  this  work  is  Vassar 
College,  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  which  was  first  opened 
in  the  year  18G5. 


ITS  HAPID  P^OGHESS.  83 

''  Besides  the  ordinary  means  for  education,  others 
have  been  established  for  special  purposes.  There  are 
Law,  Scientific,  Medical,  Theological,  Military,  Commer- 
cial, and  Agricultural  Schools,  and  seminaries  for  the 
deaf,  dumb,  and  blind.  In  many  States  school- district 
libraries  have  been  established.  There  are  continually 
enlarging  means  provided  for  the  education  of  the  whole 
people.  Edmund  Burke  said,  '  Education  is  the  cheap 
defense  of  nations.' 

"  Our  literature  is  as  varied  as  the  tastes  of  the  peo- 
ple. No  subject  escapes  the  attention  of  our  native 
scholars  and  authors.  At  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
books  were  tew  in  variety  and  numbers.  The  larger  por- 
tion of  them  were  devoted  to  theological  subjects.  Book- 
sellers were  few,  and  were  only  found  in  the  larger  cities. 
Various  subjects  were  discussed  in  pamphlets — not  gen- 
erally in  newspapers,  as  now.  The  editions  of  books  were 
small,  and  as  stereotyping  was  unknown,  they  became  rare 
in  a  few  years,  because  there  was  only  a  costly  way  of 
reproduction. 

"In  the  year  1801,  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  the 
book  trade  by  the  formation  of  the  '  American  Company 
of  Booksellers ' — a  kind  of  '  union.'  Twenty  years  later, 
competition  broke  up  the  association.  Before  the  war  of 
1812,  the  book  trade  in  the  United  States  was  small. 
Only  school  books  had  very  large  sales.  Webster's 
spelling-book  was  an  example  of  the  increasing  demand 
for  such  helps  to  education.  During  the  twenty  years 
he  was  engaged  on  his  dictionary,  the  income  from  his 
spelling-book  supported  him  and  his  family.  It  was 
published  in  1783,  and  its  sales  have  continually  in- 
creased to  the  present  time,  when  they  amount  to  over 


84  THE  UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

1,000,000  copies  a  year.  Other  school  books  of  every 
kind  now  have  an  immense  annual  circulation.  The  gen- 
eral Look  trade  in  this  country  is  now  immense  in  the 
number  of  volumes  issued  and  the  capital  and  labor 
employed.  Readers  are  rapidly  increasing.  An  ardent 
thii-st  for  knowledge  or  entertainment  to  be  found  in 
books,  magazines,  and  newspapers,  makes  a  very  large 
demand  for  these  vehicles,  while,  at  the  same  time,  they 
produce  wide-spread  intelligence.  The  magazine  litera- 
ture, now  generally  healthful,  is  a  powerful  coadjutor  of 
books  in  this  popular  culture;  and  the  newspaper,  not 
always  so  healthful,  supplies  the  daily  and  weekly  de- 
mand for  ephemerals  in  literature  and  general  knowledge. 
To  meet  that  demand  required  great  improvements  in 
printing  machinery,  and  these  have  been  supplied. 

"  The  printing-press,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  is 
shown  in  that  used  by  Franklin,  in  which  the  pressure 
force  was  obtained  by  means  of  a  screw.  The  ink  was 
applied  by  huge  balls;  and  an  expert  workman  could 
furnish  about  fifty  impressions  an  horn-.  This  was  im- 
proved by  Earl  Stanhope  in  1815,  by  substituting  for 
the  screw  a  jointed  lever.  Then  came  inking  machines, 
and  one  man  could  work  off  250  copies  an  hour.  Years 
passed  on,  and  the  cylinder  press  was  invented;  and  in 
1847  it  was  perfected  by  Richard  M.  Hoe  of  New  York. 
This  has  been  further  improved  lately,  and  a  printing- 
press  is  now  used  which  will  strike  ofi"  15,000  newspa- 
pers, printed  on  both  sides,  every  hour. 

"  The  newspapers  jjrinted  in  the  United  States  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution  were  few  in  number,  small 
in  size,  and  very  meager  in  information  of  any  kind. 
They  were  issued  weekly,  semi-weekly,  and  tri-weekly. 


ITS   RAPID   PROGRESS..  85 

The  first  daily  newspaper  issued  in  this  country  was  the 
American  Daily  Advertiser,  established  in  Philadelphia 
in  1784.  In  1775  there  were  37  newspapers  and  peri- 
odicals in  the  United  States,  with  an  aggregate  issue 
that  year  of  1,200,000  copies.  In  1870  the  number  of 
daily  newspapers  in  the  United  States  was  542;  and  of 
weeklies,  4,425.  Of  the  dailies,  800,000,000  were  issued 
that  year;  of  the  weeklies,  600,000,000  ;  and  of  other 
serial  publications,  100,000,000,  making  an  aggregate  of 
full  1,500,000,000  copies.  To  these  figures  should  be 
made  a  large  addition  at  the  close  of  1875.  There  are 
now  about  forty  newspapers  in  the  United  States  which 
have  existed  over  fifty  years. 

"In  the  providing  of  means  for  moral  and  religious 
culture  and  benevolent  enterprises,  there  has  been  great 
progress  in  this  country  during  the  century  now  closing. 
The  various  religious  denominations  have  increased  in 
membership  fully  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation. Asylums  of  every  kind  for  the  unfortunate  and 
friendless  have  been  multiplied  in  an  equal  ratio,  and 
provision  is  made  for  all. 

"  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  examples  of  the  growth 
of  our  Republic  is  presented  by  the  postal  service.  Dr. 
Franklin  had  been  Colonial  Postmaster-General,  and  he 
was  appointed  to  the  same  office  for  one  year  by  the 
Continental  Congress  in  the  summer  of  1775.  He  held 
the  position  a  little  more  than  a  year,  and  at  the  end  of 
his  official  term  there  were  about  50  post-offices  in  the 
United  States.  All  the  accounts  of  the  General  Post- 
Office  Department  during  that  period  were  contained  in 
a  small  book  consisting  of  about  two  quires  of  foolscap 
paper,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Department  at  Wash- 


86  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

ington  City.  Througli  all  the  gloomy  years  of  the  weak 
Confederacy,  the  business  of  the  Department  was  com- 
paratively light;  and  when  the  national  government  be- 
gan its  career  in  1789  there  were  only  about  seventy-five 
post-offices,  with  an  aggregate  length  of  post-roads  of 
about  1,900  miles.  The  annual  income  was  $28,000, 
and  the  annual  expenditures  were  $32,000.  The  mails 
were  carried  by  postmen  on  horseback,  and  sometimes  on 
foot.  Now  the  number  of  post-offices  is  over  33,000; 
the  aggregate  length  of  post-routes  is  256,000  miles;  the 
annual  revenue,  $23,000,000,  and  the  annual  expendi- 
tures, $29,000,000. 

"  We  may  safely  claim  for  our  people  and  country  a 
progress  in  all  that  constitutes  a  vigorous  and  prosperous 
nation  during  the  century  just  passed,  equal,  if  not  su- 
perior, to  that  of  any  other  on  the  globe.  And  to  the 
inventive  genius  and  skill  of  the  Americans  may  be 
fairly  awarded  a  large  share  of  the  honor  acquired  by  the 
construction  of  machinery  which  has  so  largely  taken  the 
place  of  manual  labor.  In  that  progress  the  American 
citizen  beholds  a  tangible  prophecy  of  a  brilliant  future 
for  his  country." 

The  following  paragraphs  which  went  the  rounds 
of  the  papers  a  few  years  ago,  present  a  good  sum- 
mary of  the  success  "Brother  Jonathan"  has 
achieved  thus  far  in  his  career : — 

"  Brother  Jonathan  commenced  business  in  1776,  with 
thirteen  States  and  815,615  square  miles  of  territory 
which  was  occupied  by  about  3,000,000  of  civilized  hu- 
man beings.  He  has  now  a  family  of  43,000,000,  who 
occupy  thirty-seven  States  and  nine  Teriitories,  which 


ITS   RAPID   PEOGRESS.  cS7 

embrace  over  3,000,000  of  square  miles.  He  has  65,000 
miles  of  railroad,  more  than  sufficient  to  reach  twice  and 
a  half  around  the  globe.  The  value  of  his  annual  agri- 
cultural productions  is  $2,500,000,000,  and  his  gold 
mines  are  capable  of  producing  $70,000,000  a  year.  He 
has  more  than  1000  cotton  factories,  580  daily  newspa- 
pers, 4,300  weeklies,  and  625  monthly  publications.  He 
has  also  many  other  things  too  numerous  and  too  notori- 
ous to  mention." 

"  The  United  States  of  America  issues  more  newspa- 
pers, in  number  and  in  aggregate  circulation,  than  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  combined.  America  outnumbers  the 
press  of  Great  Britain  six  to  one,  and  has  nearly  half 
a  dozen  daily  papers  which  print  more  copies  every  issue 
than  does  the  London  Times.'" 

The  rate  of  growth  maintained  in  this  country 
since  the  compilation  of  the  foregoing  figures  in 
1876,  may  be  best  shown  by  comparing  them  with 
the  figures  on  some  of  the  items  named  above  from 
the  census  of  1880.  Thus  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  at  this  last-named  date,  possessed,  in  round 
numbers,  38,000,000  cattle  and  48,000,000  swine. 
This  is  a  larger  number  of  cattle  than  any  other  na- 
tion can  show,  India  having  but  30,000,000,  and 
Kussia  29,000,000.  We  have  10,500,000  horses,  be- 
ing surpassed  in  this  respect  only  by  Russia,  which 
has  20,000,000.  We  come  fourth  in  the  list  of 
sheep-raising  nations,  having  36,000,000;  but  in  the 
food-producing  animals,  cattle  and  hogs,  our  coun 
try  leads  the  world. 

According  to  returns  for  the  year  1882,  our  corn 


88  THE    UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

crop  amounted  to  2,720,000,000  bushels ;  wheat, 
520,000,000  bushels;  hay,  32,000,000  tons;  coal, 
80,000,000  tons;  petroleum,  27,500,000  barrels;  pig- 
iron,  4,000,000  tons;  manufactured  steel  rails,  900,- 
000  tons. 

And  nature  herself,  by  the  physical  features  she 
has  stamped  upon  our  country,  has  seemed  to  lay  it 
out  as  a  field  for  national  development  on  the  most 
magnificent  scale.  Here  we  have  the  largest  lakes, 
the  longest  rivers,  the  mightiest  cataracts,  the  deep- 
est caves,  the  broadest  and  most  fertile  prairies,  and 
the  richest  mines  of  gold  and  iron  and  coal  and  cop- 
per, to  be  found  upon  the  globe.  ''When  America 
was  discovered,  there  were  but  sixty  millions  of  gold 
in  Europe.  California  and  the  Territories  around 
her  have  produced  one  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
in  gold  in  twenty  years.  Sixty-one  million  dollars 
was  the  largest  annual  gold  yield  ever  made  in  Aus- 
tralia. California  has  several  times  produced  ninety 
millions  of  gold  in  a  year." — Townsend,  p.  384. 
"The  area  of  workable  coal-beds  in  all  the  world 
outside  the  United  States  is  estimated  at  26,000 
square  miles.  That  of  the  United  States,  not  in- 
cluding Alaska,  is  estimated  at  over  200,000  square 
miles,  or  eight  times  as  large  as  the  available  coal 
area  of  all  the  rest  of  the  globe  ! " — American  Year 
Book  for  1869,  p.  655.  "  The  iron  product  and 
manufacture  of  the  United  States  has  increased 
enormously  within  the  last  few  years,  and  the  vast 
beds  of  iron  convenient  to  coal  in  various  parts  of 
the  Union  are  destined  to  make  America  the  chief 


ITS  RAPID   PROGRESS.  89 

source  of  supply  for  the  world."  ''  Three  mountains 
of  solid  iron  [in  Missouri],  known  as  Iron  Mountain, 
Pilot  Knob,  and  Shepherd's  Mountain,  are  among 
the  most  remarkable  natural  curiosities  on  our  con- 
tinent."— Id.,  p.  654. 

And  the  people  have  taken  hold  to  lay  out  their 
work  on  the  grand  scale  that  nature  has  ir«iicated. 
Excepting  only  the  Houses  of  Parliament  in  London, 
our  national  capitol  at  Washington  is  the  most 
spacious  and  imposing  national  edifice  in  the  world. 
By  the  unparalleled  feat  of  a  subterranean  tunnel 
two  miles  out  under  the  bottom  of  the  lake,  Chicago 
obtains  her  water.  Chicago  is  the  most  extensive 
grain  and  lumber  market  in  the  world;  and  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York  contain  the  largest  and  best- 
furnished  printing  establishments  now  in  existence. 
The  submarine  cable,  running  like  a  thread  of  light 
through  the  depths  of  the  broad  Atlantic  from  the 
United  States  to  England,  a  conception  of  American 
genius,  is  the  greatest  achievement  in  the  telegraphic 
line.  The  Pacific  Railroad,  that  iron  highway  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  stands  at  the  head  of  all 
monuments  of  engineering  skill  in  modern  times. 
Following  the  first  Atlantic  cable,  soon  came  a  sec- 
ond almost  as  a  matter  of  course;  and  following  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  a  southern  line  has  already 
been  opened,  and  a  northern  line  draws  rapidly  to- 
ward completion.  And  Avhat  results  are  expected 
to  flow  from  these  mighty  enterprises?  The  Scien- 
tific American  of  Oct.  6,  1866,  says: — 

"To   exaggerate   the   importance   of  this  transconti- 


90  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

nental  highway  is  almost  impossible.  To  a  certain  extent 
it  will  change  the  relative  positions  of  this  country, 
Europe,  and  Asia With  the  completion  of  the  Pa- 
cific Railroad,  instead  of  receiving  our  goods  from  India, 
China,  Japan,  and  the  '  isles  of  the  sea,'  by  way  of  Lon- 
don and  Liverpool,  we  shall  bring  them  dii'ect  by  way  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the  railroad,  and  become  the 
carriers,  to  a  great  extent,  for  Europe.  But  this  is  but 
a  portion  of  the  advantage  of  this  work.  Our  Western 
mountains  are  almost  literally  mountains  of  gold  and 
silver.  In  them  the  Arabian  fable  of  Aladdin  is  real- 
ized  Let  the  road  be  completed,  and  the  comforts 

as  well  as  the  necessaries  furnished  by  Asia,  the  manu- 
factures of  Europe,  and  the  productions  of  the  States, 
can  be  brought  by  the  iron  horse  almost  to  the  miner's 
door;  and  in  the  production  and  possession  of  the  precious 
metals,  the  blood  of  commerce,  we  shall  be  the  richest 
nation  on  the  globe.  But  the  substantial  wealth  created 
by  the  improvement  of  the  soil  and  the  development  of 
the  resources  of  the  country,  is  a  still  more  important 
element  in  the  result  of  this  vast  work." 

Thus,  with  the  idea  of  becoming  the  carriers  of 
the  world,  tlie  highway  of  the  nations,  and  the  rich- 
est power  on  the  globe,  the  American  heart  swells 
with  pride,  and  mounts  up  with  aspirations  to  which 
there  is  no  limit. 

And  the  extent  to  which  we  have  come  up  is  fur- 
ther shown  by  the  influence  which  we  are  exerting 
on  other  nations.  Speaking  of  America,  Mr.  Towns- 
end,  in  the  work  above  cited,  p.  462,  says: — 

<'Out  of  her  discovery  grew  the  European  reformation 


ITS   RAPID   PEOGRESS.  91 


in  religion;  out  of  our  Revolutionary  War  grew  the  rev- 
olutionary period  of  Europe.  And  out  of  our  rapid  de- 
velopment among  great  states  and  liappy  peoples,  lias 
come  an  immigration  more  wonderful  than  that  which  in- 
vaded Europe  from  Asia  in  the  latter  centuries  of  the 
Roman  empii^e.  When  w^e  raised  our  flag  on  the  At- 
lantic, Europe  sent  her  contributions;  it  appeared  on  the 
Pacific,  and  all  Orientalism  felt  the  signal.  They  are 
coming  in  two  endless  fleets,  eastward  and  westward, 
and  the  highway  is  swung  between  the  oceans  for  them 
to  tread  upon.  We  have  lightened  Ireland  of  half  her 
weight,  and  Germany  is  coming  by  the  village-load  every 
day.  England  herself  is  sending  the  best  of  her  working- 
men  now  (1869),  and  in  such  numbers  as  to  dismay  her 
Jack  Bunsbys.  What  is  to  be  the  limit  of  this  mighty 
immigration  1  " 

The  American  Traveller,  published  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  in  its  issue  of  Feb.  24,  1883,  says: — 

"  The  growth  of  immigration  is  one  of  the  most  strik- 
ing facts  of  the  jDeriod.  In  1881  the  total  arrivals  were 
720,000,  and  in  1882  they  rose  to  735,000.  These  fig- 
ures are  impressive.  They  foreshadow  an  addition  to 
our  population,  by  immigration  alone,  if  this  rate  is 
maintained,  of  seven  million  persons  in  the  next  ten 
years." 

This  would  be  more  than  twice  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  country  at  the  beginning  of  our 
independence.  It  is  estimated  that  last  year's 
immigrants  brought  with  them  a  cash  capital  of 
$62,470,000;  and  if  each  one  is  worth,  as  a  produc- 
ing machine,  as  is  claimed  from  careful  estimates, 


92  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

$1000,  Europe  has  added  to  our  capital  stock,  the 
past  two  years,  the  handsome  sum  of  $1,455,000,000. 
Speakmg  of  our  influence   and   standing  in  the 
Pacific,  Mr.  Townsend,  p.  608,  says: — 

"In  the  Pacific  ocean,  these  four  powers  [England, 
France,  Holland,  and  Russia]  are  squarely  met  by  the 
United  States,  which,  without  possessions  or  the  wish  of 
them,  has  paramount  influence  in  Japan,  the  favor  of 
China,  the  friendly  countenance  of  Russia,  and  good 
feeling  with  all  the  great  English  colonies  planted  there. 
The  United  States  is  the  only  power  on  the  Pacific  which 
has  not  been  guilty  of  intrigue,  of  double-dealing,  of 
envy,  and  of  bitterness,  and  it  has  taken  the/iron^  rank  in 
influence  without  awakening  the  dislike  of  any  of  its 
competitors,  possibly  excepting  those  English  who  are 
never  magnanimous." 

And  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward,  on  his  return  from 
his  celebrated  trip  around  the  world,  said,  "Ameri- 
cans are  now  the  fashion  all  over  the  world." 

With  one  more  extract  we  close  the  testimony  on 
this  point.  In  the  New  York  Independent  of  July 
7,  1870,  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  then  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  glancing  briefly  at  the  past 
history  of  this  country,  said: — 

"  Wonderful,  indeed,  has  been  that  history.  Spring- 
ing into  life  from  under  the  heel  of  tyranny,  its  progress 
has  been  onward,  with  the  firm  step  of  a  conqueror. 
From  the  rugged  clime  of  New  England,  from  the  banks 
of  the  Chesapeake,  from  the  Savannahs  of  Carolina  and 
Greorgia,  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans,  the  Cavalier, 
and  the  Huguenot,  swept  over  the  towering  Alleghanies, 


ITS  RAPID  PROGRESa  93 

but  a  century  ago  the  barrier  between  civilization  on  the 
one  side  and  almost  unbroken  barbarism  on  the  other ; 
and  the  banners  of  the  Kepublic  waved  from  flagstaff  and 
highland,  through  the  broad  valleys  of  the  Ohio,  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  Missouri.  Nor  stopped  its  progress 
there.  Thence  onward  poured  the  tide  of  American  civ- 
ilization and  progress,  over  the  vast  regions  of  the  West- 
ern plains  j  and  from  the  snowy  crests  of  the  Sierras  you 
look  down  on  American  States  fronting  the  calm  Pacific, 
an  empire  of  themselves  in  resoui'ces  and  wealth,  but 
loyal  in  our  darkest  hours  to  the  nation  whose  authority 
they  acknowledge,  and  in  whose  glory  they  proudly  share. 
"  From  a  territorial  area  of  less  than  nine  hundred 
thousand  square  miles,  it  has  expanded  into  over  three 
millions  and  i  half, — fifteen  times  larger  than  that  of 
Great  Britain  and  France  combined, — with  a  shore-line, 
including  Alaska,  equal  to  the  entire  circumference  of  the 
earth,  and  with  a  domain  within  these  Knes  far  wider 
than  that  of  the  Romans  in  their  proudest  days  of  con- 
quest and  renown.  With  a  river,  lake,  and  coastwise  com- 
merce estimated  at  over  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
per  year  ;  with  railway  traffic  of  from  four  to  six  thou- 
sand millions  per  year,  and  the  annual  domestic  ex- 
changes of  the  country  running  up  to  nearly  ten  thou- 
sand millions  per  year;  with  over  two  thousand  millions 
of  dollars  invested  in  manufacturing,  mechanical,  and 
mining  industry ;  with  over  five  hundred  millions  of 
acres  of  land  in  actual  occupancy,  valued,  with  their  ap- 
purtenances, at  over  seven  thousand  millions  of  dollars, 
and  producing  annually  crops  valued  at  over  three  thou- 
sand millions  of  dollars ;  with  a  realm  which,  if  the 
density  of  Belgium's  population  were  possible,  would  be 


94  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

vast  enough  to  include  all  the  present  inhabitants  of  the 
world  ;  and  with  equal  rights  guaranteed  to  even  the 
poorest  and  humblest  of  over  forty  millions  of  people, 
we  can,  with  a  manly  pride  akin  to  that  which  distin- 
guished the  palmiest  days  of  Rome,  claim,  as  the  noblest 
title  of  the  world,  'I  am  an  American  citizen.'  " 

And  how  long  a  time  has  it  taken  for  this  won- 
derful transformation  ?  In  the  language  of  Edward 
Everett,  "  They  are  but  lately  dead  who  saw  the 
first-born  of  the  Pilgrims ; "  and  Mr.  Townsend  (p. 
21)  says,  ''  The  memory  of  one  man  can  swing  from 
that  time  of  primitive  government  to  this — when 
thirty-eight  millions  of  people  [he  could  now  say 
fifty-two  millions]  living  on  two  oceans  and  in  two 
zones,  are  repi'esented  in  Washington,  and  their  con- 
suls and  ambassadors  are  in  every  port  and  metrop- 
olis of  the  globe." 

Is  this  enough  ?  The  only  objection  we  can  an- 
ticipate is  that  this  nation  has  progressed  too  fast 
and  too  far, — that  the  government  has  already  out- 
grown the  symbol.  But  what  shall  be  thought  of 
those  who  deny  that  it  has  any  place  in  prophecy  at 
all?  No;  this  prodigy  has  its  place  on  the  prophetic 
page  ;  and  the  path  which  has  thus  far  led  us  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  two-horned  beast  is  the  prophetic 
symbol  of  the  United  States  is  hedged  in  on  either 
side  by  walls  of  adamant  that  reach  to  heaven.  To 
make  any  other  application  is  an  utter  impossibility. 
The  thought  would  be  folly,  and  the  attempt, 
abortion. 


Qha^tcz^   S>ioC'. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  REPRESENTED 
BY  THE  TWO-HORNED  BEAST. 

HAVING  given  us  data  by  which  we  determine 
the  location,  chronology,  and  rapid  rise  of  this 
power,  John  now  proceeds  to  describe  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  two-horned  beast,  and  speak  of  his 
acts  in  such  a  manner  as  clearly  to  indicate  his 
character,  both  apparent  and  real.  Every  specifica- 
tion thus  far  examined  has  held  the  application  im- 
peratively to  the  United  States,  and  we  shall  find 
this  one  no  less  strong  in  the  same  direction. 

This  symbol  has  "two  hornc  like  a  lamb."  To 
those  who  have  studied  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and 
John,  horns  upon  a  beast  are  no  unfamiliar  features. 
The  ram  (Dan.  8 : 3)  had  two  horns.  The  he-goat 
that  came  against  him  had  at  first  one  notable  horn 
between  his  eyes.  This  was  broken,  and  four  came 
up  in  its  place  toward  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 
From  one  of  these  came  forth  another  horn,  which 
waxed  exceeding  great.  The  fourth  beast  of  Dan. 
7  had  ten  horns.  Among  these,  a  little  horn  with 
eyes  and  mouth,  far-seeing,  crafty,  and  blasphe- 
mous, arose.  The  dragon  and  leopard  beast  of  Rev. 
12  and  13,  denoting  the  same  as  the  fourth  beast  of 
Dan.  7  in  its  two  phases,  have  each  the  same  num- 

[95] 


96  THE  UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

ber  of  horns,  signifying  the  same  thing.  And  the 
symbol  under  consideration,  has  two  horns  like  a 
lamb.  From  the  use  of  the  horns  on  the  other  sym- 
bols, some  facts  are  apparent  which  may  guide  us  to 
an  understanding  of  their  use  on  this  last  one. 

A  horn  is  used  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  sjrmbol  of 
strength  and  power,  as  in  Deut.  33: 17,  and  of  glory 
and  honor,  as  in  Job  16  :  15. 

A  horn  is  sometimes  used  to  denote  a  nation  as  a 
whole,  as  the  four  horns  of  the  goat,  the  little  horn 
of  Dan.  8,  and  the  ten  horns  of  the  fourth  beast  of 
Dan.  7 ;  and  sometimes  some  particular  feature  of 
the  government;  as  the  first  horn  of  the  goat,  which 
denoted  not  the  nation  as  a  whole,  but  the  civil 
power,  as  centered  in  the  first  king,  Alexander  the 
Great. 

Horns  do  not  always  denote  division,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  four  horns  of  the  goat,  etc. ;  for  the  two 
horns  of  the  ram  denote  the  union  of  Media  and 
Persia  in  one  government. 

A  horn  is  not  used  exclusively  to  represent  civil 
power;  for  the  little  horn  of  Daniel's  fourth  beast, 
the  papacy,  was  a  horn  when  it  plucked  up  three 
other  horns,  and  established  itself  in  538.  But  it 
was  then  purely  an  ecclesiastical  power,  and  so  re- 
mained for  two  hundred  and  seventeen  years  from 
that  time ;  when  Pepin,  in  the  year  755,  made  the 
Roman  pontifi*  a  grant  of  some  rich  provinces  in 
Italy,  which  first  constituted  him  a  temporal  mon- 
arch. (Goodrich's  History  of  the  Church,  p.  98; 
Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  Vol.  ii.  p.  108.) 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT.  97 

With  these  facts  before  us,  we  are  prepared  to  ex- 
amine into  the  significance  of  the  two  horns  which 
pertain  to  this  beast.  Why  does  John  say  that  he 
has  two  horns  like  a  lamb?  Why  not  simply  two 
horns?  It  must  be  because  these  horns  possess  pe- 
culiarities which  indicate  the  character  of  the  power 
to  which  they  belono^.  The  horns  of  a  lamb  indi- 
cate, first,  youthfulness,  and  secondly,  innocence 
and  gentleness.  As  a  power  which  has  but  recently 
arisen,  the  United  States  answers  to  the  symbol  ad- 
mirably in  respect  to  age ;  while  no  other  power,  as 
has  already  abundantly  been  proved,  can  be  found 
to  do  this.  And  considered  as  an  index  of  power 
and  character,  it  can  be  decided  what  constitutes 
the  two  horns  of  the  government,  if  it  can  be  as- 
certained what  is  the  secret  of  its  strene^th  and 
power,  and  what  reveals  its  apparent  character,  or 
constitutes  its  outward  profession.  The  Hon.  J.  A. 
Bingham  gives  us  the  clue  to  the  whole  matter 
when  he  states  that  the  object  of  those  who  first  ^ 
sought  these  shores  was  to  found  "  what  the  world 
had  not  seen  for  ages  ;  viz.,  a  church  without  a 
pope,  and  a  state  without  a  king."  Expressed  in 
other  words,  this  would  be  a  government  in  which 
the  church  should  be  free  from  the  civil  power,  and 
civil  and  religious  liberty  reign  supreme. 

And  what  is  the  profession  of  this  government  in 
these  respects?  That  great  instrument  which  our 
forefathers  set  forth  as  their  bill  of  rights,  the  Dec- 
laration  of   Independence,    contains    these    words: 

7 


98  THfi   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  aL 
men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights;  that- 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness." And  in  Article  IV.  Sec,  4,  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  we  find  these  words. 
"  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State 
in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government."  A 
republican  form  of  government  is  one  in  which  the 
power  rests  with  the  people,  and  the  whole  machin- 
ery of  government  is  worked  by  representatives 
elected  by  them.  And  here,  again,  we  see  the  fit- 
ness between  the  symbol  and  the  government  which 
is  symbolized ;  for  the  horns  of  the  two-horned  beast 
have  no  crowns  upon  them,  as  do  the  horns  of  the 
dragon  and  leopard  beast,  showing  that  the  govern- 
ment which  it  represents  cannot  be  monarchical, 
but  is  one  in  which  the  power  is  vested  in  the  hands 
of  the  people. 

This  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  civil  liberty. 
What  is  said  respecting  religious  freedom  ?  In  Art. 
VI.  of  the  Constitution,  we  read:  "No  religious 
test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  of  public  trust  under  the  United  States."  In 
Art.  I.  of  "Amendments  of  the  Constitution,"  we 
read:  "  Congreas  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  ex- 
ercise thereof." 

In  reply  to  questions  as  to  the  design  of  the  Con- 
stitution, from  a  committee  of  a  Baptist  society  in 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.      99 

Virginia,  George  Washington    wrote,  Aug.  4,  1789, 
as  follows: — 

"If  I  had  the  least  idea  of  any  difficulty  resulting 
from  the  Constitution  adopted  by  the  Convention  of 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  be  President  when  it  was 
formed,  so  as  to  endanger  the  rights  of  any  religious 
denomination,  then  I  never  should  have  attached  my 
name  to  that  instrument.  If  I  had  any  idea  that  the 
general  government  was  so  administered  that  the  liberty 
of  conscience  was  endangered,  I  pray  you  be  assured 
that  no  man  would  be  more  willing  than  myself  to  re- 
vise and  alter  that  part  of  it,  ::o  as  to  avoid  all  religious 
persecutions.  You  can,  without  doubt,  remember  that 
I  have  often  expressed  my  opinion,  that  every  man  who 
conducts  himself  as  a  good  citizen  is  accountable  to  God 
alone  for  his  religious  faith,  and  should  be  protected  in 
worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience." 

In  1830,  certain  memorials  for  prohibiting  the 
transportation  of  mails  and  the  opening  of  post- 
offices  on  Sunday  were  referred  to  the  Congressional 
Committee  on  Post-offices  and  Post-roads.  The 
committee  reported  unfavorably  to  the  prayer  of  the 
memorialists.  Their  report  was  adopted,  and  printed 
by  order  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  committee  discharged  from  the  further  consider- 
ation of  the  subject.  Of  the  Constitution  they 
say:— 

"We  look  in  vain  to  that  instrument  for  authority  to 
say  whether  the  first  day,  or  seventh  day,  or  whether 
any  day,  has  been  made  holy  by  the  Almighty. 


100  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

''  The  Constitution  regards  the  conscience  of  the  Jew 
as  sacred  as  that  of  the  Christian,  and  gives  no  more 
authority  to  adopt  a  measure  affecting  the  conscience  of 
a  solitary  individual  than  of  a  whole  community.  That 
representative  who  would  violate  this  i:)rinciple  would 
lose  his  delegated  character,  and  forfeit  the  confidence 
of  his  constituents.  If  Congress  should  declare  the  first 
day  of  the  week  holy,  it  would  not  convince  the  Jew  nor 
the  Sabbatarian.  It  would  dissatisfy  both,  and  conse- 
quently convert  neither If  a  solemn  act  of  leg- 
islation shall  in  one  point  define  the  law  of  God,  or 
point  out  to  the  citizen  one  religious  duty,  it  may  with 
equal  propriety  define  every  part  of  revelation,  and  en- 
force every  religious  obligation,  even  to  the  forms  and 
ceremonies  of  worship,  the  endowments  of  the  church, 
and  the  support  of  the  clergy. 

"  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  recognized  the  eter- 
nal principle  that  man's  relation  to  his  God  is  above  hu- 
man leixislation,  and  his  right  of  conscience  inalienable. 
Reasoning  was  not  necessary  to  establish  this  truth ;  we 
are  conscious  of  it  in  our  own  bosom.  It  is  this  con- 
sciousness, which,  in  defiance  of  liuman  laws,  has  sus- 
tained so  many  martyrs  in  tortures  and  flames.  They 
•  felt  that  their  duty  to  God  was  superior  to  human  en- 
actments, and  that  man  could  exercise  no  authority  over 
their  consciences.  It  is  an  inborn  principle  which  noth- 
ing can  eradicate. 

"It  is  also  a  fact  that  counter  memorials,  equally  re- 
spectable, oppose  the  interference  of  Congress,  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  be  legislating  upon  a  religious  sub- 
ject, and  therefore  unconstitutional." 


CHARACTER   OF    THE   GOVERNMENT.  101 

Hon.  A.  H.  Cragin,  of  New  Hampshire,  in  a 
speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  said: — 

"When  our  forefathers  reared  the  magnificent  struct- 
ure of  a  free  repubhc  in  this  Western  land,  they  laid  its 
foundations  broad  and  deep  in  the  eternal  principles  of 
right.  Its  materials  were  all  quarried  from  the  mount- 
ain of  truth ;  and  as  it  rose  majestically  before  an  as- 
tonished world,  it  rejoiced  the  hearts  and  hopes  of  man- 
kind. Tyrants  only  cursed  the  workmen  and  their 
workmanship.  Its  architecture  was  new.  It  had  no 
model  in  Grecian  or  Roman  history.  It  seemed  a  para- 
gon let  down  from  Heaven  to  inspire  the  hopes  of  men, 
and  to  demonstrate  God's  favor  to  the  people  of  the  New 
World.  The  builders  recognized  the  rights  of  human 
nature  as  miiversal.  Liberty,  the  great  fi-rst  right  of 
man,  they  claimed  for  'all  men,'  and  claimed  it  from 
'God  himself.'  Upon  this  foundation  they  erected  the 
temple,  and  dedicated  it  to  Liberty,  Humanity,  Justice, 
and  Equality.  Washington  was  crowned  its  patron 
saint.  Liberty  was  then  the  national  goddess,  worshiped 
by  all  the  peojjle.  They  sang  of  liberty,  they  harangued 
for  liberty,  they  prayed  for  liberty.  Slavery  was  then 
hateful.  It  was  denounced  by  all.  The  British  king 
was  condemned  for  foisting  it  upon  the  colonies.  South- 
ern men  were  foremost  in  entering  their  protest  against 
it.  It  was  then  everywhere  regarded  as  an  evil,  and  a 
crime  against  humanity." 

Again,  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  is  the  Prot- 
estant rule  of  faith;  and  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  one's  own  conscience  is 
the  standard  of  religious  freedom  in  this  land;  and 


102  THE   UNITED   STATES   IX   PROPHECY. 

from  the  quotations  herewith  presented,  it  is  evident 
that  while  the  government  pledges  to  all  its  citizens 
the  largest  amount  of  civil  freedom,  outside  of  license, 
it  has  determined  to  lay  upon  the  people  no  religious 
restrictions,  but  to  guarantee  to  all  liberty  to  wor- 
ship God  according  to  the  Protestant  principle. 

Here,  then,  are  two  great  principles  standing 
prominently  before  the  people, — Republicanism  and 
Protestantism.  And  what  can  be  more  just,  and 
innocent,  and  lamb-like  than  these?  And  here, 
also,  is  the  secret  of  our  strength  and  power.  Had 
some  Caligula  or  Nero  ruled  this  land,  we  should 
look  in  vain  for  Avhat  we  behold  to-day.  Immigra- 
tion Avould  not  have  flowed  to  our  shores,  and  this 
country  would  never  have  presented  to  the  world  so 
unparalleled  an  example  of  national  groAvth 

Townsend  (Old  World  and  New,  p.  341)  says: — 

*'And  what  attached  these  people  to  us^  In  part, 
undoubtedly,  our  zone,  and  the  natural  endowments  of 
this  portion  of  the  globe.  In  part,  and  of  late  years,  our 
vindicated  national  character,  and  the  safety  of  our  in- 
stitutions. But  the  mar/net  in  America  is  that  we  are 
a  rejntblic  — a  repahllcan  j^eople  !  Cursed  with  artificial 
government,  however  glittering,  the  people  of  Europe, 
like  the  sick,  pine  for  nature  with  protection,  for  open 
vistas  and  blue  sky,  for  independence  without  ceremony, 
for  adventure  in  their  own  interest,  and  here  they  find 
it!" 

One  of  these  horns  may  therefore  represent  the 
civil  republican  power  of  this  government,  and  the 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT       103 

other,  the  Protestant  ecclesiastical.  This  application 
is  warranted  by  the  facts  already  set  forth  respect- 
ing the  horns  of  the  other  powers.  For  (1)  the  two 
horns  may  belong  to  one  beast,  and  denote  union  in- 
stead of  division,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ram  (Dan.  3) ; 

(2)  a  horn  may  denote  a  purely  ecclesiastical  ele- 
ment, as  the  little  horn  of  Daniel's  fourth  beast ;  and 

(3)  a  horn  may  denote  the  civil  power  alone,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  first  horn  of  the  Grecian  goat.  On 
the  basis  of  these  facts,  we  have  these  two  elements, 
Republicanism  and  Protestantism,  here  united  in  one 
government,  and  represented  by  two  horns  like  the 
horns  of  a  lamb.  And  these  are  nowhere  else  to  be 
found ;  nor  have  they  appeared,  since  the  time  when 
we  could  consistently  look  for  the  rise  of  the  two- 
horned  beast,  in  any  nation  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth  except  our  own. 

And  with  these  horns  there  is  no  objection  to  be 
found.  They  are  like  those  of  a  lamb,  the  Bible 
symbol  of  purity  and  innocence.  The  principles  are 
all  right.  The  outward  appearance  is  unqualifiedly 
good.  But,  alas  for  our  country  !  its  acts  are  to 
give  the  lie  to  its  profession.  The  lamb-like  features 
are  first  developed,  but  the  dragon  voice  is  to  be 
heard  hereafter. 


->*&^%?$t*- 


THE  DRAGON  VOICE. 

FROM  the  facts  thus  far  ehcited  in  this  argument, 
we  have  seen  that  the  government  symboHzed 
by  the  two-horned  beast  must  be  some  government 
distinct  from  the  powers  of  the  Old  World,  whether 
civil  or  ecclesiastical ;  that  it  must  arise  this  side  the 
Atlantic  ;  that  it  must  be  seen  coming  into  influence 
and  noto  iety  about  the  year  1798 ;  that  it  must 
rise  in  a  peaceful  manner  ;  that  its  progress  must  be 
so  rapid  as  to  strike  the  beholder  with  as  much  won- 
der as  the  perceptible  growth  of  an  animal  before 
his  eyes  ;  that  it  must  be  a  republic  ;  that  it  must 
exhibit  before  the  world,  as  an  index  of  its  character 
and  of  the  motives  by  which  it  is  governed,  two 
great  principles,  in  themselves  perfectly  just,  inno- 
cent, and  lamb-like  ;  and  that  it  must  perfoi-m  its 
work  in  the  present  century.  ^ 

And  we  have  seen  that  of  these  eight  specifications 
just  two  things  can  be  said  :  First,  that  they  are  all 
perfectly  met  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
thus  far  ;  and  secondly,  that  they  are  not  met  in  the 
history  of  any  other  government  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Behind  tliese  eight  lines  of  defense,  therefore, 
the  argument  lies  impregnably  intrenched. 

And  the  American  patriot,  who  loves  his  country^ 

[101] 


THE   DRAGON   VOICE.  105 

and  takes  a  just  pride  in  her  thus-far  glorious  record 
and  noble  achievements,  needs  an  argument  no  less 
ponderous  and  immovable,  and  an  array  of  evidence 
no  less  clear,  to  enable  him  to  accept  the  painful  se- 
quel which  the  remainder  of  the  prophecy  also  ap- 
plies to  this  government,  hitherto  the  best  the  world 
has  ever  seen  ;  for  the  prophet  immediately  turns  to 
a  part  of  the  picture  which  is  dark  with  injustice, 
and  marred  by  oppression,  deception,  intolerance, 
and  wronff. 

After  describing  the  lamb-like  appearance  of  this 
symbol,  John  immediately  adds,  "  And  he  spake  as 
a  dragon."  The  dragon,  the  first  link  in  this  chain 
of  prophecy,  was  a  relentless  persecutor  of  the  church 
of  God.  The  leopard  beast,  which  follows,  was  like- 
wise a  persecuting  power,  grinding  out  for  1260 
years  the  lives  of  millions  of  the  followers  of  Christ. 
The  third  actor  in  the  scene,  the  two-horned  beast, 
speaks  like  tlie  first,  and  thus  shows  himself  to  be  a 
dragon  at  heart ;  "for  out  of  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  the  mouth  speaketh,"  and  in  the  heart  actions 
are  conceived.  This,  then,  like  the  rest,  is  a  perse-  // 
cuting  power ;  and  the  reason  that  any  of  tliem  are 
mentioned  in  prophecy,  is  simply  because  they  are 
persecuting  powers.  God's  care  for  the  church,  his 
little  flock,  is  what  has  led  him  to  give  a  revelation 
of  his  will,  and  point  out  the  foes  with  whom  they 
would  have  to  contend.  To  his  church,  all  the  ac-  ,. 
tions  recorded  of  the  dragon  and  leopard  beast  re- 
late ;  and  in  reference  to  the  church,  therefore.',  we 


106     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PKOPHECY. 

conclude  that  the  dragon  voice  of  this  power  is  ut- 
tered. 

The  "speaking"  of  any  government  must  be  the 
public  promulgation  of  its  Will  on  the  part  of  its  law- 
making and  executive  powers.  Is  this  nation,  then, 
■'  to  issue  unjust  and  oppressive  enactments  against 
the  people  of  God  ?  Are  the  fires  of  persecution, 
which  in  other  ages  have  devastated  other  lands,  to 
be  lio-hted  here  also  ?  We  would  fain  believe  other- 
wise  ;  but  notwithstanding  the  pure  intentions  of 
the  noble  founders  of  this  government,  notwithstand- 
ing the  worthy  motives  and  objects  of  thousands  of 
Christian  patriots  to-day,  we  can  but  take  the  proph- 
ecy  as  it  reads,  and  expect  nothing  less  than  what  it 
predicts.  John  heard  this  power  speak,  and  the  voice 
was  that  of  a  dragon. 

Nor  is  this  so  improbable  an  issue  as  might  at  first 
appear.  The  people  of  the  United  States  are  not  all 
saints.  The  masses,  notwithstanding  all  our  gospel 
light  and  gospel  principles,  are  still  in  a  position  for 
Satan  to  suddenly  fire  their  hearts  with  the  basest 
of  impulses.  This  nation,  as  we  have  seen,  is  to  ex- 
ist to  the  coming  of  Christ ;  and  the  Bible  very  fully 
sets  forth  the  moral  condition  of  the  people  in  the 
days  that  immediately  precede  that  event.  Iniquity 
is  to  abound,  and  the  love  of  many  to  wax  cold. 
Matt.  24:12.  Evil  men  and  seducers  are  to  wax 
worse  and  worse.  2  Tim.  3:  13.  Scofiers  are  to 
arise,  saying,  "  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming?" 
2  Pet.  3:  3,  4.  The  whole  land  is  to  be  full  of  vio- 
lence, as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  full  of 


THE   DRAGON   VOICE.  107 

licentiousness,  as  was  Sodom  in  the  days  of  Lot. 
Luke  17:  26-30.  And  when  the  Lord  appears,  faith 
will  scarcely  be  found  upon  the  earth  (Luke  18:  8); 
and  those  who  are  ready  for  his  coming  will  be  but 
a  "little  flock."  Luke  12:32.  Can  the  people  of 
God  think  to  go  through  this  period,  and  not  suffer 
persecution?  No;  this  would  be  contrary  to  the 
lessons  taught  by  all  past  experience,  and  just  the 
reverse  of  what  we  are  warranted  by  the  wotd  of 
God  to  expect.  "  All  that  will  live  godly  in  Christ 
Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution."  If  ever  this  was 
true  in  the  history  of  the  church,  we  may  expect  it 
to  be  emphatically  so,  v/hen,  in  the  last  days,  the 
world  is  in  its  aphelion  as  related  to  God,  and  the 
wicked  touch  their  lowest  depths  of  iniquity  and 
sin. 

Let,  then,  such  a  general  spirit  of  persecution  arise 
as  the  foregoing  scriptures  declare  will  in  the  last 
days  exist,  and  what  is  more  probable  than  that  it 
should  assume  an  organized  form  ?  In  this  country 
the  will  of  the  people  ii  law.  And  let  there  be  a 
general  desire  on  the  part  of  the  people  for  certain 
oppi-essive  enactments  against  believers  in  unpopular 
doctrines,  and  what  v^ould  be  more  easy  and  natural 
than  that  such  desire  should  immediately  crystallize 
into  systematic  action,  and  oppressive  m.easures  take 
the  form  of  law?  Then  we  have  just  what  the 
prophecy  indicates.  Then  is  heard  the  voice  of  the 
dragon. 

And  there  are  elements  already  in  existence  which 
furnish  a  luxuriant  soil  for  a  baleful  crop  of  future 


108  THE    UNITED    STATES   IN    PROPHECY. 

evil.  Our  nation  has  grown  so  rapidly  in  wealth 
that  it  stands  to-day  as  the  richest  nation  in  the 
world.  AVealth  leads  to  luxury,  luxury  to  corruption, 
corruption  to  the  breaking  down  of  all  moral  bar- 
riers; and  then  the  way  is  open  for  the  worst 
passions  to  come  to  the  front  and  for  the  worst 
principles  to  bear  rule.  The  prevailing  condition  of 
things  is  graphically  described  by  the  late  distin- 
o'uished  and  devoted  J.  H.  Merle  D'Aubiffne,  author 
of  the  History  of  the  Reformation.  Just  previous 
to  his  death,  he  prepared  a  paper  for  the  ''  Evangelical 
Alliance,"  in  which  he  gave  utterance  to  the  following 
weighty  and  startling  words: — 

"  If  the  meeting  for  Avliicli  you  are  assembled  is  an 
im2Dortant  one,  the  jDeriod  at  which  it  is  held  is  equally  so, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  great  things  which  God  is 
accomplishing  in  the  world,  but  also  by  reason  of  the  great 
evils  which  the  spirit  of  darkness  is  spreading  throughout 
Christendom.  The  despotic  and  an-ogant  pretensions  of 
Rome  have  reached  in  o\ir  days  their  highest  pitch,  and  we 
arc  consequently  more  than  ever  called  upon  to  contend 
against  that  power  which  dares  to  usurp  the  divine  attributes. 
But  that  is  not  all.  While  superstition  has  increased, 
unbelief  has  done  so  still  more.  Urutil  now,  the  cighteentli 
century — the  age  of  Voltaire— ^was  regarded  as  the  ej^och  of 
most  decided  infidelity  ;  but  liow  far  does  the  i)resent  time 
surpass  it  in  this  respect !  .  .  .  But  there  is  a  still 
sadder  feature  of  our  times.  Unbelief  has  reached  even  the 
ministry  of  the  word." 

Political  corruption  is  preparing  tlie  way  for 
deeper  sin.  It  pervades  all  parties.  Look  at  the 
dishonest  means  resorted  to  to  obtain  office, — the 
bribery,  the  deceptions,  the  ballot-stuffing.     Look  at 


THE   DRAGON   VOICE.  109 


the  stupendous  revelations  of  municipal  corruption 
lately  disclosed  in  New  York  City, — millions  upon 
millions  stolen  directly  and  barefacedly  from  the 
city  treasury  by  its  corrupt  officials.  Look  at  the 
civil  service  of  this  government.  Speaking  on  this 
point,  The  Xation  of  Nov.  17,  1870,  said: — 

"  The  newspapers  are  generally  believed  to  exaggerate 
most  of  the  abuses  they  denounce;  but  we  say  deliber- 
ately, that  no  denunciation  of  the  civil  service  of  the 
United  States  which  Las  ever  appeared  in  print  has  come 
up,  as  a  picture  of  selfishness,  greed,  fraud,  corruption, 
falsehood,  and  cruelty,  to  the  accounts  wliich  are  given 
privately  by  those  who  have  seen  the  real  workings  of 
the  machine." 

Revelations  are  continually  coming  to  light,  go- 
ing beyond  the  worst  fears  of  those  who  are  even 
the  most  apprehensive  of  wrongs  committed  among 
all  classes  of  society  at  the  present  time.  The  nation 
stands  aghast  to-day  at  the  evidence  of  corruption 
in  high  places  which  is  thrust  before  its  face.  Yet  a 
popular  ministry,  in  their  softest  and  most  soothing 
tones,  declare  that  the  world  is  growing  better,  and 
sing  of  a  good  time  coming. 

The  Detroit  Evening  News  of  March  4,  1876,  re- 
ferring to  Secretary  Belknap's  fall,  said : — 

"  The  revelations  of  corruption  in  connection  with  the 
administration  of  the  Federal  government  have  gone  fur- 
ther than  anybody's  worst  fears,  in  the  humiliating  in- 
telligence of  Secretary  Belknap's  disgrace.  That  among 
the  underlings  there  were  to  be  found  rascals  might  have 


110  THE   UNITED  STATES   IX   PROPHECY. 

been  expected  in  such  times  as  these,  but  that  a  ministei' 
of  the  Cabinet  should  have  turned  out  to  be  nothing  bet- 
ter than  a  vulgar  thief  is  something  which  must  fill  this 
nation  with  dismay,  and  the  civilized  world  with  con- 
tempt. Where  is  all  this  to  stopl  Are  we  so  utterly 
rotten  as  a  people  that  nothing  but  vileness  can  come 
uppermost, — that  we  cannot  preserve  even  the  great 
offices  of  the  Cabinet  from  the  possession  of  rascals'?" 

Again  the  Neius  says: — 

"  Washington  seems  to  be  ingulfed  in  iniquity  and 
steeped  in  corruption.  Disclosures  of  fraud  in  high 
places  are  pushing  one  another  toward  the  light.  Bel- 
knaj),  Logan,  Delano,  Ingalls — and  where  the  black  list 
will  stop.  Heaven  only  knows." 

Since  the  foresfoino^  was  written,  there  has  been  no 
real  improvement  in  the  tone  of  public  morals.  And 
further  enumeration  is  here  unnecessary.  Enough 
crops  out  in  every  day's  history  to  show  that  moral 
principle,  the  only  guarantee  for  justice  and  honesty 
in  a  government  like  ours,  is  sadly  wanting. 

And  evil  is  also  threatening  from  another  quar- 
ter. Creeping  up  from  the  darkness  of  the  Dark 
Ages,  a  hideous  monster  is  intently  watching  to 
seize  the  throat  of  liberty  in  our  land.  It  thrusts 
itself  up  into  the  noonday  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
not  that  it  may  be  benefited  by  its  light  and  free- 
dom, but  that  it  may  suppress  and  obscure  them. 
The  name  of  this  monster  is  Popery ;  and  it  has  fixed 
its  rapacious  and  bloodthirsty  eyes  on  this  land,  de- 
termined to  make  it  its  helpless  prey.      It  already 


THii  DRAGON  VOICE.  HI 

decides  the  election  in  some  of  our  largest  cities.  It 
controls  the  revenues  of  the  most  populous  State  in 
the  Union,  and  appropriates  annually  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  raised  from  Protestant  taxes  to 
the  support  of  its  own  ecclesiastical  organizations, 
and  to  the  furtherance  of  its  own  religious  and  po- 
litical ends.  It  has  attained  such  a  degree  of  in- 
fluence that  it  is  only  by  a  mighty  effort  of  Protest- 
ant patriotism  that  any  measures  against  which  the 
Romish  element  combines  its  strength  can  now  be 
carried.  And  corrupt  and  unscrupulous  politicians 
stand  ready  to  concede  its  demands,  in  order  to 
secure  its  support  for  the  advancement  of  their 
own  ambitious  aims.  Rome  is  in  the  field,  with  the 
basest  and  most  fatal  intentions,  and  with  the  most 
watchful  and  tireless  energy.  It  is  destined  to  play 
an  important  part  in  our  future  troubles;  for  this  is 
the  very  beast  which  the  two-horned  beast  is  to 
cause  the  earth  and  them  that  dwell  therein  to  wor- 
ship, and  before  w^hose  eyes  it  is  to  perform  its  won- 
ders. 

And  in  our  own  better  Protestant  churches  there 
is  that  which  threatens  to  lead  to  most  serious  evils. 
On  this  point  one  of  their  own  popular  ministers, 
who  is  well  qualified  to  speak,  may  testify.  A  ser- 
mon by  Charles  Beecher  contains  the  following  state- 
ments : — 

"  Our  best,  most  humble,  most  devoted  servants  of 
Christ,  are  fostering  in  their  midst  what  will  one  day, 
not  long  hence,  show  itself  to  be  the  spawn  of  the 
dragon.     Tliey  shrink  from  any  rude  word  against  creeds 


112  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

with  the  same  sensitiveness  with  which  those  holy  fa- 
thers woiikl  have  shrunk  from  a  rude  woid  against  the 
rising  veneration  of  saints  and  martyrs  which  they  were 
fostering The  Protestant  evangelical  denomina- 
tions have  so  tied  up  one  another's  hands,  and  their  own, 
that,  between  them  all,  a  man  cannot  become  a  preacher 
at  all,  anywhere,  Avithout  accepting  some  book  besides 
the  Bible.  .  .  .  And  is  not  the  Protestant  church  apos- 
tate 1  Oh  !  remember,  the  final  form  of  a])Ostasy  shall 
rise,  not  by  crosses,  processions,  baubles.  We  understand 
all  that.  Apostasy  never  comes  on  the  outside.  It  de- 
velops. It  is  an  apostasy  that  shall  spring  into  life 
within  us, — an  apostasy  that  shall  martyr  a  man  who 
believes  his  Bible  ever  so  holily;  yea,  who  may  even  be- 
lieve what  the  creed  contains,  but  who  may  happen  to 
agree  with  the  Westminster  Assembly,  that,  pro}>osed  as 
a  test,  it  is  an  unwarrantable  imposition.  That  is  the 
apostasy  Ave  have  to  fear,  and  is  it  not  already  formed  1 
.  .  .  Will  it  be  said  that  our  fears  are  imaginary  1  Im- 
aginary !  Did  not  the  Rev.  John  M.  Duncan,  in  the 
years  1825—6,  or  thereabouts,  sincerely  believe  the  Bi- 
ble^ Did  he  not  even  believe  substantially  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith'?  And  was  he  not,  for  daring  to  say  what 
the  Westminster  Assembly  said,  that  to  require  the  re- 
ception of  that  creed  as  a  test  of  ministerial  qualification 
was  an  unwarrantable  imposition,  brought  to  trial,  con- 
demned, excommunicated,  and  his  pulpit  declared  va- 
cant ?  There  is  nothing  imaginary  in  the  statement  that 
the  creed-power  is  now  beginning  to  prohibit  the  Bible 
as  really  as  Home  did,  though  in  a  subtler  way. 

"Oh,  woful  day!     Oh,  unhappy  church  of  Christ,  fast 
rushing   i-ouiid   and  round  the  fatal  circle  of  absorbing 


THE  DRAGON  VOICE.  113 

ruin !  .  .  .  Daily  does  every  one  see  that  things  are  go- 
ing wrong.  With  sighs  does  every  true  heart  confess 
that  rottenness  is  somewhere;  but,  ah!  it  is  hopeless  of 
reform.  We  all  pass  on,  and  the  tide  rolls  down  to 
night.  The  waves  of  the  coming  conflict  which  is  to  con- 
vulse Christendom  to  her  center  are  beginning  to  be  felt. 
The  deep  heavings  begin  to  swell  beneath  us.  '  All  the 
old  signs  fail.'  '  God  answers  no  more  by  Urim  and 
Thummim,  nor  by  dream,  nor  by  prophet.'  Men's  hearts 
are  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those 
thinors  that  are  coming  on  the  earth.  Thunders  mutter 
in  the  distance.  Winds  moan  across  the  surging  bosom 
of  the  deep.  All  things  betide  the  rising  of  that  fatal 
storm  of  divine  indignation  which  shall  sweep  away  the 
vain  refuge  of  lies." 

In  addition  to  this,  we  have  spiritualism,  infidel- 
ity, socialism,  free-love,  the  trades  unions,  or  labor 
against  capital,  and  communism, — all  assiduously 
spreading  their  principles  among  the  masses.  These 
are  the  very  principles  that  worked  among  the  peo- 
ple, as  the  exciting  cause,  just  prior  to  the  terrible 
French  Revolution  of  1789-1800.  Human  nature 
is  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  like  causes  will  surely 
produce  like  effects.  These  causes  are  now  all  in  act- 
ive operation ;  and  how  soon  they  will  culminate  in 
a  state  of  anarchy,  and  a  reign  of  terror  as  much 
more  frightful  than  the  French  Revolution  as  they 
are  now  more  widely  extended,  no  man  can  say. 

Such  are  some  of  the  elements  already  at  work; 
such  is  the  direction  in  which  events  are  moving. 
And  how  much  further  is  it  necessary  that  they 
8 


114  TliE  tfNITED  STATES   tN  PROPHECY. 

should  progress  in  this  manner  before  an  open  war- 
cry  from  the  masses  of  persecution  against  those 
whose  simple  adherence  to  the  Bible  shall  put  to 
shame  their  man-made  theology,  and  whose  godly 
lives  shall  condemn  their  wicked  practices,  would 
Seem  in  nowise  startling  or  incongruous  ? 

But  some  may  say,  through  an  all-absorbing  faith 
in  the  increasing  virtue  of  the  American  people,  that 
they  do  not  believe  that  the  United  States  will  ever 
raise  the  hand  of  persecution  against  any  class.  Very 
Well.  This  is  not  a  matter  over  which  we  need  to 
indulge  in  a*ny  controversy.  No  process  of  reason- 
ing nor  any  amount  of  argument  can  ever  show  that 
it  will  not  be  so.  We  think  we  have  shown  good 
ground  for  strong  probabilities  in  this  direction ;  and 
we  shall  present  more  forcible  evidence,  and  speak 
of  more  significant  movements,  hereafter.  As  we 
interpret  the  prophecy,  we  look  upon  it  as  inevita- 
ble. But  the  decision  of  the  question  must  be  left 
to  time ;  we  can  neither  help  nor  hinder  its  work ; 
that  will  soon  solve  all  doubts,  and  correct  all  er- 
rors. 


HE  DOETH  GREAT  WONDERS. 

IN  further  predicting  the  work  of  the  two-horned 
beast,  the  prophet  says,  "  And  he  exerciseth  all 
the  power  of  the  first  beast  before  him,  and  causeth 
the  earth  and  them  which  dwell  therein  to  worship 
the  first  beast,  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed." 
This  language  is  urged  by  some  to  prove  that  the 
two-horned  beast  must  be  some  power  which  holds 
the  reins  of  government  in  the  very  territory  occu- 
pied by  the  first  beast;  for,  otherwise,  how  could  he 
exercise  his  power? 

If  the  word  "before"  denoted  precedence  in  time, 
and  the  first  beast  passed  ofli*  the  stage  of  action  when 
the  two-horned  beast  came  on,  just  as  Babylon  gave 
place  to  Persia,  which  then  exercised  all  the  power 
of  Babylon  before  it,  there  would  be  some  plausibil- 
ity in  the  claimc  But  the  word  rendered  "  before " 
is  eviliTTLov  (enopion),  which  means,  literally,  "in  the 
presence  of."  And  so  the  language,  instead  of  prov- 
ing what  is  claimed,  becomes  a  most  positive  proof 
that  these  beasts  are  distinct  and  contemporary 
powers. 

The  first  beast  is  in  existence,  having  all  its  sym- 
bolic vitality,  at  the  very  time  the  two-horned  beast 
is  exercisinsf  power  in  his  presence.     But  this  could 

[115] 


116  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

not  be,  if  his  dominion  had  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  two-horned  beast ;  for  a  beast,  in  prophecy,  ceases 
to  e^Cist  when  his  dominion  is  taken  away.  What 
caused  the  change  in  the  symbols  from  the  lion,  rep- 
resenting Babylon,  to  the  bear,  representing  Persia? 
Simply  a  transfer  of  dominion  from  Babylon  to  Per- 
sia. And  so  the  prophecy  explains  the  successive 
passing  away  of  these  beasts,  by  saying  that  their 
lives  were  prolonged,  but  their  dominion  was  taken 
away;  that  is,  the  territory  of  the  kingdom  was  not 
blotted  from  the  map,  nor  the  lives  of  the  people  de- 
stroyed, but  there  was  a  transfer  of  power  from  one 
nationality  to  another.  So  the  fact  that  the  leopard 
beast  is  spoken  of  as  still  an  existing  power,  when 
the  two-horned  beast  works  in  his  presence,  is  proof 
that  he  is,  at  that  time,  in  possession  of  all  the  do- 
minion that  was  ever  necessary  to  constitute  him  a 
symbol  in  prophecy. 

What  power,  then,  does  the  two-horned  beast  ex- 
ercise? Not  the  power  which  belongs  to,  and  is  in 
the  hands  of,  the  leopard  beast,  surely;  but  he  exer- 
cises, or  essays  to  exercise,  in  his  presence,  power  of 
the  same  kind  and  to  the  same  extent.  The  power 
which  the  first  beast  exercised  was  a  terrible  power 
of  oppression  against  the  people  of  God ;  and  this  is 
a  further  indication  of  the  character  which  the  two- 
homed  beast  is  finally  to  sustain  in  this  respect. 

The  latter  part  of  the  verse,  **And  cause th  the 
earth  and  them  which  dwell  therein  to  worship  the 
first  beast,  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed,"  is  still 
further  proof  that  the  two-horned  beast  is  no  phase 


HE  DOETH  GREAT  WONDERS.        117 

nor  feature  of  the  papacy ;  for  the  first  beast  is  cer- 
tainly competent  to  enforce  his  own  worship  in  his 
own  country,  and  from  his  own  subjects.  But  it  is 
the  two-horned  beast  which  causes  the  earth  (the 
territory  out  of  Avhich  it  arose,  and  over  which  it 
rules),  and  them  which  dwell  therein,  to  worship  the 
first  beast.  This  shows  that  this  beast  occupies  ter- 
ritory over  which  the  first  beast  has  no  jurisdiction. 
"  And  he  doeth  great  wonders,  so  that  he  maketh 
fire  come  down  from  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the 
sight  of  men."  That  we  are  living  in  an  age  of 
wonders,  none  deny.  Time  was,  and  that  not  two- 
score  of  years  ago,  when  the  bare  mention  of  achieve- 
ments which  now  constitute  the  warp  and  woof  of 
every- day  life,  was  considered  the  wildest  chimera 
of  a  diseased  imagination.  Now,  nothing  is  too 
wonderful  to  be  believed,  nor  too  strange  to  happen. 
Go  back  only  a  little  more  than  half  a  century,  and 
the  world,  with  respect  to  those  things  which  tend 
to  domestic  convenience  and  comfort, — the  means  of 
illumination,  the  production  and  application  of  heat, 
and  the  performance  of  various  household  operations; 
with  respect  to  methods  of  rapid  locomotion  from 
place  to  place,  and  the  transmission  of  intelligence 
from  point  to  point,  stood  about  wdiere  it  did  in  the 
days  of  the  patriarchs.  Suddenly  the  waters  of  that 
long  stream  over  whose  drowsy  surface  scarcely  a 
ripple  of  improvement  had  passed  for  three  thousand 
years,  broke  into  the  white  foam  of  violent  agitation. 
The  world  awoke  from  the  slumber  and  darkness  of 
ages.     The  divine  finger  lifted  the  seal  from  the  pro- 


118     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

phetic  books,  and  brought  that  predicted  period 
when  men  should  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge 
should  be  increased.  Then  men  bound  the  elements 
to  their  chariots,  and,  reaching  up,  laid  hold  upon 
the  very  lightning,  and  made  it  their  message-bearer 
around  the  world.  Nahum  foretold  that  at  a  cer- 
tain time  the  chariots  should  be  with  flaming  torches 
and  run  like  the  lightnings.  Who  can  behold,  in 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  the  locomotive  dashing 
over  its  iron  track,  the  fiery  glare  of  its  great  lidless 
eye  driving  the  shadows  from  its  path,  and  torrents 
of  smoke  and  sparks  and  flame  pouring  from  its 
burning  throat,  and  not  realize  that  ours  are  the 
eyes  that  are  privileged  to  look  upon  a  fulfillment 
of  Nahum's  prophecy  ?  But  when  this  should  take 
place,  the  prophet  said  that  the  times  would  be 
burdened  with  the  solemn  work  of  God's  prepa- 
ration. 

"  Canst  thou  send  lightnings,"  said  God  to  Job, 
"  that  they  may  go,  and  say  unto  thee,  Here  we 
are  ?  "  If  Job  were  living  to-day,  he  could  answer, 
Yes.  It  is  one  of  the  current  sayings  of  our  time 
that  Franklin  tamed  the  lightning,  and  Prof.  Morse 
taught  it  the  English  language. 

So  in  every  department  of  the  arts  and  sciences; 
the  advip,ncement  that  has  been  made  within  the  last 
half  century  is  without  precedent  in  the  world's 
history.  And  in  all  tliesc  the  United  States  takes 
the  lead.  Tliese  facts  are  not,  indeed,  to  be  taken  as 
a  fnlfillment  of  tlie  prophecy,  but  they  sliow  the 
S])irit  of  tlie  ai^e  in  which  we  five,  and  point  to  tliis 


HE   DOETH   GREAT   WONDERS.  119 

time  as  a  period  when  we  may  look  for  wonders  of 
every  kind. 

The  wonders  to  wdiich  the  prophecy  (Rev.  13) 
refers  are  evidently  wrought  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
ceiving the  people;  for  verse  14  reads,  "And  de- 
ceiveth  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  by  means  of 
those  miracles  which  he  had  power  to  do  in  the  sight 
of  the  beast."  This  identifies  the  two-horned  beast 
with  the  false  prophet  of  Rev.  19  :  20  ;  for  this  false 
prophet  is  the  power  that  works  miracles  before  the 
beast,  ''with  which,"  says  John,  "he  deceived  them 
that  had  received  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  them 
that  worshiped  his  image," — the  identical  work  of 
the  two-horned  beast.  We  can  now  ascertain  by 
what  means  the  miracles  in  question  are  wrought ; 
for  Rev.  16  :  13  14  speaks  of  spirits  of  devils  work- 
ing miracles,  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  to  the 
battle  of  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty;  and  these 
miracle-working  spirits  go  forth  out  of  the  mouths 
of  certain  powers,  one  of  which  is  this  very  false 
prophet,  or  two-horned  beast. 

Miracles  are  of  two  kinds,  true  and  false,  just  as 
we  have  a  true  Christ  and  false  christs,  true  prophets 
and  false  prophets,  and  true  apostles  and  false  apos- 
tles. By  a  false  miracle  we  mean  not  a  pretended 
miracle,  which  is  no  miracle  at  all,  but  a  real  mir- 
acle, a  supernatural  performance,  wrought  in  the 
interest  of  falsehood,  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving 
the  people  or  of  proving  a  lie.  The  miracles  of  this 
power  are  real  miracles^  but  are  wrought  for  the 


120  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

purpose  of  deception.  The  prophecy  does  not  read 
that  he  deceived  the  people  by  means  of  the  mira- 
cles which  he  claimed  that  he  was  able  to  perform, 
or  which  he  pretended  to  do,  but  which  he  had  power 
to  do. 

!  They,  therefore,  fall  far  short  of  the  prophecy  who 
suppose  that  the  great  wonders  wrought  by  this 
power  were  fulfilled  by  Napoleon  when  he  told  the 
Mussulmans  that  he  could  command  a  fiery  chariot 
to  come  down  from  heaven,  but  never  did  it;  or  by 
the  pretended  miracles  of  the  Romish  Church, 
which  are  only  shams,  mere  tricks  played  off*  by  un- 
godly and  designing  priests  upon  their  ignorant  and 
superstitious  dupes. 

Miracles,  or  wonders,  such  as  are  to  be  wrought 
by  the  two-horned  beast,  and,  Avithal,  as  we  think, 
the  very  ones  referred  to  in  the  prophecy,  are  men- 
tioned by  Paul  in  2  Thcss.  2:9,  10.  Speaking  of 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  he  says,  "Whose  com- 
ing is  after  [Kara,  at  the  time  of,  2  Tim.  4  :  1]  the 
working  of  Satan  with  all  power  and  signs  and  ly- 
ing wonders,  and  with  all  deceivableness  of  unright- 
eousness in  them  that  perish,  because  they  received 
not  the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they  might  be  saved." 
These  are  no  slight-of-hand  performances;  but  such 
a  workhig  of  Satan  as  the  world  has  never  before 
seen.  To  work  with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying 
wonders,  is  certainly  to  do  a  real  and  an  astounding 
work,  but  one  which  is  designed  to  prove  a  lie. 

Again,  the  Saviour,  predicting  events  to  occur 
just  before  his  second  coming,  says,  "For  there  shall 


HE  DOETH  GREAT  WONDEES.        121 

arise  false  christs  and  false  prophets,  and  shall  show 
great  signs  and  wonders;  insomuch  that,  if  it  were 
possible,  they  shall  deceive  the  very  elect."  Here, 
again,  are  wonders  foretold,  wrought  for  the  purpose 
of  deception,  so  powerful  that  were  it  possible  even 
the  very  elect  would  be  deceived  by  them. 

Thus  we  have  a  series  of  prophecies  setting  forth 
the  development,  in  the  last  days,  of  a  wonder- 
working power,  manifested  to  a  startling  and  un- 
precedented degree,  in  the  interest  of  falsehood  and 
error.  All  refer  to  one  and  the  same  thing.  The 
earthly  government  with  which  it  was  to  be  espe- 
cially connected,  is  that  represented  by  the  two- 
horned  beast,  or  false  prophet.  The  agency  lying 
back  of  the  outward  manifestations  was  to  be  Sa- 
tanic, the  spirit  of  devils.  The  prophecy  calls  for 
such  a  work  as  this  in  our  own  country  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  Do  we  behold  anything  like  it?  Read 
the  answer  in  the  lamentation  of  the  prophet :  "  Woe 
to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea!  for 
the  devil  is  come  down  unto  you,  having  great 
wrath,  because  he  knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a  short 
time."  Stand  aghast,  O  Earth!  tremble,  ye  peo- 
ple, but  be  not  deceived !  The  huge  specter  of  evil 
confronts  us,  as  the  prophet  declared.  Satan  is 
loosed.  From  the  depth  of  Tartarus  myriads  of  de- 
mons swarm  over  the  land.  The  prince  of  darkness 
manifests  himself  as  never  before,  and,  stealing  a 
word  from  the  vocabulary  of  Heaven  to  designate 
his  work,  he  calls  it — Siylritwdism. 


122  THE   UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

1.  Does  spiritualism,  then,  bear  these  marks  of 
Satanic  agency? 

(1)  The  spirits  which  communicate  claim  to  be 
the  spirits  of  our  departed  friends.  But  the  Bible, 
in  the  most  explicit  terms,  assures  us  that  the  dead 
are  wholly  inactive  and  unconscious  till  the  resurrec- 
tion; that  the  dead  know  not  anything  (Eccl.  9:5); 
that  every  operation  of  the  mind  has  ceased  (Ps. 
146.4);  that  every  emotion  of  the  heart  is  sus- 
pended (Eccl.  9:6);  and  that  there  is  neither  work^ 
nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave, 
where  they  lie.  Eccl.  9:10.  Whatever  intelligence, 
therefore,  comes  to  us  professing  to  be  one  of  our  dead 
friends,  comes  claiming  to  be  what,  from  the  word 
of  God,  we  know  he  is  not.  But  angels  of  God  do  not 
lie ;  therefore  these  are  not  the  good  angels.  Spirits 
of  devils  will  lie ;  this  is  their  work ;  and  these  are 
the  credentials  which  at  the  very  outset  they  hand 
us. 

(2)  The  doctrines  which  they  teach  are  from  the 
lowest  and  foulest  depths  of  the  pit  of  lies.  They 
deny  God.  They  deny  Christ.  They  deny  the 
atonement.  They  deny  the  Bible.  They  deny  the 
existence  of  sin,  and  all  distinction  between  right 
and  wrong.  They  deny  the  sacredness  of  the  mar- 
riage covenant;  and,  interspersing  their  utterances 
with  the  most  horrid  blasphemies  against  God  and 
his  Son,  and  everything  that  is  lovely,  and  good, 
and  pure,  they  give  the  freest  license  to  every  pro- 
pensity to  sin,  and  to  every  carnal  and  fleshly  lust. 
Tell  us  not  that  these  things,  openly  taught  under 


HE  DOETH  GEEAT  WONDERS.        123 

the  garb  of  religion,  and  backed  up  by  supernatural 
sights  and  sounds,  are  anything  Jess  than  Satan's 
masterpiece. 

2.  Spiritualism  answers  accurately  to  the  proph- 
ecy in  the  exhibition  of  great  signs  and  wonders. 
Among  its  many  achievements  these  may  be  men- 
tioned: Various  articles  have  been  transported  from 
place  to  place  by  spirits  alone.  Beautiful  music  has 
been  produced  independently  of  human  agency, 
with  and  without  the  aid  of  visible  instruments. 
Many  well-attested  cases  of  healing  have  been  pre- 
sented. Persons  have  been  carried  through  the  air 
by  the  spirits  in  the  presence  of  many  others.  Ta- 
bles have  been  suspended  in  the  air  with  several 
persons  upon  them.  And,  finally,  spirits  have 
presented  themselves  in  bodily  form,  and  talked 
with  an  audible  voice. 

Experiments  conducted  by  the  great  German 
philosopher,  Prof.  Zollner,  demonstrated  the  follow- 
ing facts,  as  related  by  him  to  Joseph  Cook  during 
the  late  visit  of  the  latter  to  Europe;  namely,  ab- 
normal knots  were  tied  in  cords;  messages  were 
written  between  doubly  and  trebly  sealed  slates; 
coin  passed  through  a  ta.ble  in  a  manner  to  illus- 
trate the  suspension  of  the  laws  of  the  impenetrabil- 
ity of  matter;  straps  of  leather  were  knotted  under 
Prof.  Zollner's  hands;  the  impression  of  two  feet 
was  given  on  sooted  paper  pr..;ted  inside  two  sealed 
slates;  whole  and  uninjure.i  wooden  rings  were 
placed  around  the  standard  oi  j.'  card  table,  over 
either  end  of  which  they  could  by  no  possibility  bo 


124  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

slipped;  and,  finally,  the  table  itself,  a  heavy 
beechen  structure,  wholly  disappeared,  and  then  fell 
down  from  the  top  of  the  room  in  which  Prof.  Z. 
and  his  friends  were  sitting. 

A  writer  in  the  Spiritual  Clarion  speaks  as  fol- 
lows of  the  manner  in  which  spiritualism  has  arisen, 
and  the  astounding  progress  it  has  made : — 

"  This  revelation  has  been  with  a  power  and  a  might, 
that,  if  divested  of  its  almost  universal  benevolence,  had 
been  a  terror  to  the  very  soul  ;  the  hair  of  the  very 
bravest  had  stood  on  end,  and  his  chilled  blood  had  crept 
back  upon  his  heart  at  the  sights  and  sounds  of  its  inex- 
plicable phenomena.  It  comes  with  foretokening,  with 
warning.  It  has  been,  from  the  very  first,  its  own  best 
prophet,  and  step  by  stej:)  it  has  foretold  the  progress  it 
would  make.  It  comes,  too,  most  triumphant.  No 
faith  before  it  ever  took  so  victorious  a  stand  in  its  in- 
fancy. It  has  swept  like  a  hurricane  of  fire  through  the 
land,  compelling  faith  from  the  baffled  scoffer  and  the 
most  determined  doubter." 

3.  Spiritualism  answers  to  the  prophecy  in  that 
it  had  its  origin  in  our  own  country,  thus  connect- 
insr  its  wonders  with  the  work  of  the  two-horned 
beast.  Commencing  in  Hydesville,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
family  of  Mr.  John  D.  Fox,  in  the  latter  part  of 
March,  1848,  it  spread  with  incredible  rapidity 
through  all  the  States.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
state  the  number  of  spiritualists  in  this  country  at 
the  present  time.  In  1876,  only  twenty-eight  years 
from  the  commencement  of  this  remarkable  move- 
ment, estimates  of  the  number  of  its  adherents  were? 


KE  DOETH  GREAT  WONDERs.  125 

made  by  different  ones,  which,  though  differing  some- 
what from  one  another,  are  nevertheless  such  as  to 
show  that  the  progress  of  spirituahsm  has  been  with- 
out a  parallel.  Thus,  Judge  Edmonds  put  the  num- 
ber at  five  or  six  millions  (5,000,000  or  6,000,000); 
Hepworth  Dixon,  three  millions  (3,000,000);  A.  J. 
Davis,  four  million  two  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand (4,230,000);  Warren  Chase,  eight  millions  (8,- 
000,000);  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Council  at  Bal- 
timore, between  ten  and  eleven  millions  (10,000,000 
to  11,000,000).  Of  those  who  have  become  its  dev- 
otees, Judge  Edmonds  said  as  long  ago  as  1853: — 

"Besides  the  imdistmguished  multitude,  there  are 
many  now  of  high  standing  and  talent  ranked  among 
them, — doctors,  lawyers,  and  clergymen  in  great  num- 
bers, a  Protestant  bishop,  the  learned  and  reverend  pres- 
ident of  a  college,  judges  of  our  higher  courts,  members 
of  Congress,  foreign  ambassadors,  and  ex-members  of  tlie 
United  States  Senate." 

This  statement  was  written  about  thirty  years 
ago;  and  from  that  time  to  this  the  work  of  the 
spirits  has  been  steadily  progressing,  and  spreading 
among  all  classes  of  people. 

One  reason  why  it  is  now  difficult  to  estimate  the 
number  of  those  who  might  properly  be  denominated 
spiritualists,  is  that  the  more  prominent  and  respect- 
able of  the  adherents  of  this  movement,  are  draw- 
ing under  cover  the  obnoxious  and  immoral  features 
of  the  system,  heretofore  so  prominent,  and  assuming 
a  Christian  garb.     By  this  move  they  bring  them- 


126  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

selves  and  a  multitude  of  church-members  upon  com- 
mon ground,  where  there  is  no  distinction  between 
them  in  fact,  though  there  still  may  be  in  name. 

And  from  this  nation  spiritualism  has  gone  abroad 
into  all  the  earth.  Queen  Victoria  is  said  to  be  a 
devotee  of  the  new  philosophy.  See  Townsend's 
"  New  World  and  Old,"  p.  201.  The  late  Emperor 
and  Empress  of  France,  the  late  Queen  of  Spain, 
Pius  IX.,  and  Alexander  II.  and  the  Grand  Dukes 
of  Russia,  are  all  said  to  have  sought  to  these  spirits 
for  knowledge.  Thus  it  is  working  its  way  to  the 
potentates  of  the  earth,  and  is  fast  preparing  to  ac- 
complish its  real  mission,  which  is,  by  deceiving  the 
world  with  its  miracles,  to  gather  the  nations  to  the 
battle  of  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty. 

Here  we  pause.  Let  this  work  go  on  a  little 
longer,  as  it  has  been  going,  and  as  it  is  still  going, 
and  what  a  scene  is  before  us !  Having  seen  so  much 
fulfilled,  we  cannot  now  draw  back  and  deny  the 
remainder.  And  so  we  look  for  the  onward  march 
of  this  last  great  wonder-working  deception,  till  that 
is  accomplished  which  in  the  days  of  Elijah  was  a 
test  between  Jehovah  and  Baal,  and  fire  is  brought 
down  from  heaven  to  earth  in  the  sight  of  men. 
Then  will  be  the  hour  of  the  powers  of  darkness, — 
the  hour  of  temptation  that  is  coming  upon  all  the 
world  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth.  Rev. 
3: 10.  Then  all  will  be  swept  from  their  anchorage 
by  the  strong  current  of  delusion,  except  those  whom 
it  is  not  possible  to  deceive, — the  elect  of  God. 

And  still  the  world  sleeps  on,  while  Satan,  with 


HE  BOETH  GiaEAT  WONDERS.  127 

lightning  fingers  and  hellish  energy,  weaves  over 
them  his  last  fatal  snare.  It  is  time  some  mighty 
move  was  made  to  waken  the  world,  and  arouse  the 
church  to  the  dangers  we  are  in.  It  is  time  every 
honest  heart  should  learn  that  the  only  safeguard 
against  the  great  deception,  whose  incipient,  and 
even  well-advanced  workings  we  already  behold  be- 
fore our  eyes,  is  to  make  the  truths  of  God's  holy 
and  immutable  word  our  shield  and  buckler. 


l^a^^td'o   ?flinc. 


AN   IMAGE   TO   THE   BEAST. 

THE  imposing  miracles  wrought  before  the  people 
having  riveted  upon  them  the  chains  of  a  fatal 
deception,  leading  them  to  suppose  they  have  wit- 
nessed the  great  power  of  God,  and  must  therefore 
be  doing  him  service,  when  they  have  only  been 
dazed  with  a  mighty  display  of  satanic  wonders, 
and  are  led  captive  by  the  devil  at  his  will,  they  are 
prepared  to  do  the  further  bidding  of  the  two-homed 
beast,  which  is  to  make  an  image  to  the  beast  which 
had  the  wound  by  a  sword,  and  did  live. 

Once  more  we  remind  the  reader  of  the  impreg- 
nable strength  of  the  argument  already  presented  in 
previous  chapters,  fixing  the  application  of  this  sym- 
bol to  the  United  States.  This  is  an  established 
proposition,  and  needs  no  further  support.  An  ex- 
position of  the  remainder  of  the  prophecy  will  there- 
fore consist  chiefly  of  an  effort  to  determine  what 
acts  are  to  be  performed  by  this  government,  and  a 
search  for  indications,  if  any  exist,  that  they  are 
about  to  be  accomplished.  If  we  shall  find  evidences 
springing  up  on  all  sides  that  this  government  is  now 
moving  as  rapidly  as  possible  in  the  very  direction 
marked  out  by  the  prophet,  these  indications,  though 
not  necessary  to  establish  the  application  of  the  sym- 


AN  IMAGlS  TO  TilE  BEAST.  129 

bol  to  this  government,  will  serve  to  stifle  the  last 
excuse  of  skepticism,  and  become  to  the  believer  an 
impressive  evidence  of  our  proximity  to  the  end;  for 
the  acts  ascribed  to  this  symbol  are  but  few,  and 
while  yet  in  mid-career  he  is  ingulfed  in  the  lake  of 
fire  of  the  last  great  day. 

We  may,  however,  notice  in  passing,  another  evi- 
dence that  the  government  symbolized  by  the  two- 
horned  beast  is  certainly  a  republic.  This  is  proved 
by  the  language  used  respecting  the  formation  of  the 
image.  It  does  not  read  that  this  power,  as  an  act 
of  imperial  or  kingly  authority,  makes  an  image  to 
the  beast;  but  it  says  to  them  that  dwell  on  the 
earth,  that  is,  the  people  occupying  the  territory 
where  it  arises,  that  they  should  make  an  image  to 
the  beast.  Appeal  is  made  to  the  people,  sho wing- 
conclusively  that  the  power  is  in  their  hands.  But 
just  as  surely  as  the  government  symbolized  is  a  re- 
public, so  surely  is  it  none  other  than  the  United 
States  of  America. 

We  have  seen  that  the  wonder-working  satanic 
agencies,  which  are  to  perform  the  foretold  miracles, 
and  prepare  the  people  for  the  next  step  in  the 
prophecy, — the  formation  of  the  image, — are  already 
in  the  field,  and  have  even  now  wrought  out  a  work 
of  vast  proportion  in  our  country;  and  we  now 
hasten  forward  to  the  very  important  inquiry, 
What  will  constitute  the  image,  and  what  steps  are 
necessary  to  its  formation? 

The  people  are  to  be  called  upon  to  make  an  image 
to  the  beast,  which  expression  doubtless  involves  the 


130  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PKOt>HECY. 

idea  of  some  deferential  action  toward,  or  concessions 
to,  that  power;  and  the  image,  when  made,  is  an 
image,  likeness,  or  representation  o/ the  beast.  Verse 
15.  The  beast  after  which  the  image  is  modeled  is 
the  one  which  had  a  wound  by  a  sword  and  did 
live,  or  the  papacy.  From  this  point  is  seen  the  col- 
lusion of  the  two-horned  beast  with  the  leopard  or 
papal  beast.  He  does  great  wonders  in  the  sight  of 
that  beast ;  he  causes  men  to  worship  that  beast ;  he 
leads  them  to  make  an  image  to  that  beast;  and  he 
causes  all  to  receive  a  mark,  which  is  the  mark  of 
that  beast.  These  palpable  evidences  of  co-opera- 
tion with  the  papal  power  led  Eld,  J.  Litch,  about 
1842,  to  write  concerning  the  two-horned  beast 
thus : — 

"  I  think  it  is  a  power  yet  to  be  developed,  or  made 
manifest,  as  an  accomplice  of  the  papacy  in  subjecting 
the  world." 

To  understand  what  would  be  an  image  of  the 
papacy,  we  must  first  gain  some  definite  idea  of  what 
constitutes  the  papacy  itself.  Papal  supremacy 
dates  from  the  time  when  the  decree  of  Justinian 
constituting  the  pope  the  head  of  the  church  and 
the  corrector  of  heretics,  was  carried  into  effect  in 
538.  The  papacy,  then,  was  a  church  clothed  with 
civil  power, — an  ecclesiastical  body  having  authority 
to  punish  all  dissenters  with  confiscation  of  goods, 
imprisonment,  torture,  and  death.  What  would  be 
an  image  of  the  papacy?  Another  ecclesiastical  es- 
tablishment clothed  with  similar  power.     How  could 


AN  IMAGE  TO   THE  BEAST.  ISl 

such  an  image  be  formed  in  this  country?  Let  the 
Protestant  churches  in  our  land  be  clothed  with 
power  to  define  and  punish  heresy,  to  enforce  their 
dogmas  under  the  pains  and  penalties  of  the  civil 
law,  and  should  we  not  have  an  exact  representation 
of  the  papacy  during  the  days  of  its  supremacy? 

It  may  be  objected  that  whereas  the  papal  church 
was  comparatively  a  unit,  and  hence  could  act  in 
harmony  in  all  its  departments  in  enforcing  its  dog- 
mas, the  Protestant  church  is  so  divided  as  to  be 
unable  to  agree  in  regard  to  what  doctrines  shall  be 
made  imperative  on  the  people.  We  answer.  There 
are  certain  points  which  they  hold  in  common,  and 
which  are  sufficient  to  form  a  basis  of  co-operation. 
Chief  among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  doctrine  of 
the  conscious  state  of  the  dead  and  the  immortalit}^ 
of  the  soul,  which  is  both  the  foundation  and  super- 
structure of  spiritualism,  and  also  the  doctrine  that 
the  first  day  of  the  week  is  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. 

It  may  be  objected,  again,  that  this  view  makes 
one  of  the  horns,  the  Protestant  church,  finally  con- 
stitute the  image  of  the  beast.  If  the  reader  sup- 
poses that  the  Protestant  church  constitutes  one  of 
the  horns  of  the  two-horned  beast,  we  reply  that  this 
is  a  conception  of  his  own.  No  such  idea  is  here 
taught ;  and  we  mention  this  objection  only  be- 
cause it  has  been  actually  urged  as  a  legitimate  con- 
sequence of  the  positions  here  taken.  The  question 
is  also  asked,  If  the  Protestant  church  constitutes  one 
horn,  may  not  the  Catholic  Church  constitute  the 


1S3  THE   UNITED  STATES  m  PROPHECY. 

otht'i?  Under  the  sbadoAV  of  that  hypothetical  "if," 
perhaps  it  might.  But  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
perforins  such  an  office.  In  Chapter  Six  of  this 
work  it  Avas  shown  that  the  two  great  principles  of 
Republicanism  and  Protestantism  Avere  the  proper 
objects  to  be  symbolized  by  these  two  lamb-like 
horns.  But  there  is  the  plainest  distinction  between 
Protestantism  as  an  embodiment  of  the  great  princi- 
ple of  religious  liberty,  and  the  different  religious 
bodies  that  have  grown  up  under  its  fostering  in- 
fluence,— ;just  as  plain  as  there  is  between  Republican- 
ism, or  civil  liberty,  and  the  individual  who  lives  in 
the  enjoyment  of  such  liberty.  The  supposition, 
.i  therefore,  that  the  Protestant  church  is  to  furnish 
the  material  for  the  image,  involves  no  violation  of 
the  symbolic  harmony  of  this  prophecy. 

Let  us  look  a  moment  at  the  fitness  of  the  mate- 
rial. We  are  not  unmindful  of  the  noble  service  the 
Protestant  churches  have  rendered  to  the  world,  to 
humanity,  and  to  religion,  by  introducing  and  de- 
fending, so  far  as  they  have,  the  great  principles  of 
Protestantism.  But  they  have  made  a  fatal  mis- 
take in  stereotyping  their  doctrines  into  creeds,  and 
thus  taking  the  lirst  step  backward  toward  the 
spiritual  tyranny  of  Rome.  Thus  the  good  promise 
they  gave  of  a  fi^'ee  religion  and  an  unfettered  con- 
science is  already  broken ;  for  if  the  right  of  private 
judgment  is  allowed  by  the  Protestant  churcli,  why 
are  men  condemned  and  expelled  from  that  church 
for  no  other  crime  than  honestly  attempting  to  obey 
the  word  of  God,  in  some  particulars  not  in  accord- 


AN  IMAGE  TO  THE  BEAST.         133 

ance  with  her  creed?  This  is  the  beginning  of  apos- 
tasy. Read  Chas.  Beecher's  work,  "  The  Bible  a 
Sufficient  Creed."  "Is  not  the  Protestant  church," 
he  asks,  "  apostate?  "  Is  not  the  apostasy  which  we 
have  reason  to  fear  "  abeady  formed?"  But  apos- 
tasy in  principle  always  leads  to  corruption  in  prac- 
tice. And  so  Paul,  in  2  Tim.  3: 1-5,  sets  forth  the 
condition  of  the  professed  church  of  Christ  in  the 
last  days.  A  rank  growth  of  twenty  heinous  sins, 
with  no  redeeming  virtues,  shows  that  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  will  be  choked  and  rooted  out  by  the 
works  of  the  flesh.  We  can  look  nowhere  else  for 
this  picture  of  Paul's  to  be  fulfilled,  except  to  the 
Protestant  church ;  for  the  class  of  which  he  speaks 
maintain  a  form  of  godliness,  or  the  outward  services 
of  a  true  Christian  worship.  And  is  not  the  church 
of  our  day  beginning  to  manifest  to  an  alarming  de- 
gree the  very  characteristics  which  the  apostle  has 
specified?  Fifteen  clergymen  of  the  city  of  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  on  Sunday,  Feb.  5,  1871,  distributed  a 
circular  entitled  "A  Testimony,"  to  fifteen  congre- 
gations of  that  city.  To  this  circular  the  Rochester 
Democrat  of  Feb.  7  made  reference  as  follows: — 

"  The  '  Testimony '  sets  out  by  stating  that  the  forego- 
ing pastors  are  constrained  to  bear  witness  to  what  they 
'  conceive  to  be  a  tact  of  our  time  ;  viz.,  that  the  prevail- 
ing standard  of  piety  among  the  professed  people  of 
God,  is  alarmingly  low  ;  that  a  tide  of  worldliness  is  set- 
ting in  upon  us,  indicating  the  rapid  approach  of  an  era 
such  as  is  foretold  by  Paul  in  his  second  letter  to  Timo- 
thy, in  the  words,    "  In    the    last   days    perilous  times 


134     THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

shall  come."  '  These  conclusions  are  reached,  not  by 
comparison  with  former  times,  but  by  applying  the  tests 
found  in  the  Scriptures.  They  instance,  as  proof,  '  the 
spirit  of  lawlessness  which  prevails.'  The  circular  then 
explains  how  this  lawlessness  (religious)  is  shown.  Men 
have  the  name  of  religion,  but  they  obey  none  of  its  in- 
junctions. There  is  also  a  growing  disposition  to  prac- 
tice, in  religious  circles,  what  is  agreeable  to  the  natural 
inclinations,  rather  than  the  duties  prescribed  by  the 
word  of  God.  The  tendency  to  adopt  worldly  amuse- 
ments, by  professed  Christians,  is  further  stated  in 
evidence." 

This  testimony  is  very  explicit.  When  men 
"  have  the  name  of  religion,  but  obey  none  of  its  in- 
junctions," they  certainly  may  be  said  to  have  a 
form  of  godliness,  but  to  deny  the  power;  and  when 
they  "practice  in  religious  circles  what  is  agreeable 
to  the  natural  inclinations,  rather  than  the  duties 
prescribed  by  the  word  of  God,"  they  may  truth- 
fully be  said  to  be  "lovers  of  pleasures  more  than 
lovers  of  God."  And  Rochester  is  not  an  exception 
in  this  respect.  It  is  so  all  over  the  land,  as  the 
candid  everywhere,  by  a  sad  array  of  facts,  are 
compelled  to  admit. 

That  the  majority  of  the  Christians  in  our  land 
are  still  to  be  found  in  connection  with  these  churches, 
is  undoubtedly  true.  But  a  change  in  this  respect 
is  also  approaching;  for  Paul,  in  his  words  to 
Timothy  above  referred  to,  exhorts  all  true 
Christians  to  turn  away  from  those  who  have  a 
form   of    godliness,    but  deny  the  power  thereof; 


AN  IMAGE  TO  THE  BEAST.         135 

and  those  who  desire  to  live  pure  and  holy  lives, 
who  mourn  over  the  desolations  of  their  Zion,  and 
sigh  for  the  abominations  done  in  the  land,  will 
certainly  heed  this  injunction  of  the  apostle.  There 
is  another  prophecy  which  also  shows  that  when  the 
spirit  of  worldliness  and  apostasy  has  so  far  taken 
possession  of  the  professed  churches  of  Christ  as  to 
place  them  beyond  the  reach  of  reform,  God's  true 
children  are  every  one  to  be  called  out,  that  they 
become  not  partakers  of  their  sins,  and  so  receive 
not  of  their  plagues.     Rev.  18  :  4. 

From  the  course  which  church-members  are  every- 
where pursuing,  it  is  plain  to  be  seen  in  what  direc- 
tion the  Protestant  churches  are  drifting  ;  and  from 
the  declarations  of  God's  word  it  is  evident  that  all 
whose  hearts  are  touched  by  God's  grace  and  molded 
by  his  love  will  soon  come  out  from  a  connection  in 
which,  while  they  can  do  no  good  to  others,  they 
will  receive  only  evil  to  themselves. 

And  now  we  ask  the  reader  to  consider  seriously 
for  a  moment  what  the  state  of  the  religious  world 
will  be  when  this  change  shall  have  taken  place. 
We  shall  then  have  an  array  of  proud  and  popular 
churches,  from  whose  communion  all  the  good  have 
departed,  from  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  is  withdrawn, 
and  who  are  in  a  state  of  hopeless  departure  from 
God.  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  nor  of  churches ; 
and  if  the  Protestant  churches  apostatize  from  him, 
will  they  not  be  just  as  efficient  agents  in  the  hand 
of  the  enemy  as  ever  pagans  or  papists  have  been? 
Will  they  not   then    be   ready  for   any   desperate 


136  THE   UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

measure  of  bigotry  and  oppression  in  which  he  may 
wish  to  enlist  them  ?  After  the  Jewish  Church  had 
finally  rejected  Christ,  how  soon  they  were  ready  to 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  crucifixion ! 
And  is  it  not  the  testimony  of  all  history  that  just 
in  proportion  as  any  popular  and  extensive  ecclesi- 
astical organization  loses  the  Spirit  and  power  of 
God,  it  clamors  for  the  support  of  the  civil  arm  ? 

Let,  now,  an  ecclesiastical  organization  be  formed 
by  these  churches;  let  the  government  legalize  such 
organization,  and  give  it  power  (a  power  which  it 
will  not  have  till  the  government  does  grant  it)  to 
enforce  upon  the  people  the  dogmas  which  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  can  all  adopt  as  the  basis  of 
union,  .and  what  do  we  have  ?  Just  what  the 
prophecy  represents, — an  image  to  the  papal  beast, 
endowed  with  life  by  the  two-horned  beast,  to  speak 
and  act  with  power. 

And  are  there  any  indications  of  such  a  move- 
ment ?  The  preliminary  question,  that  of  the  grand 
union  of  all  the  churches,  is  now  profoundly  agitat- 
ing the  religious  world. 

In  May,  1869,  S.  M.  Manning,  D.  D.,  in  a  sermon 
in  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York,  spoke  of  the 
recent  efforts  to  unite  all  the  churches  in  the  land 
into  co-operation  on  the  common  points  of  their 
faith,  as  a  "  pi^ominent  and  noteworthy  sign  of  the 
times." 

Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  is  quoted  as  saying: — 

'  There  is  a  state  of  society  to  be  formed  by  an  ex- 


AN  IMAGE  TO  THE  BEAST.         137 

tended  combination  of  institutions,  religious,  civil,  and 
literary,  which  never  exists  without  the  co-operation  of 
an  educated  ministry." 

Chas.  Beecher,  in  his  sermon  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind., 
Feb.  22,  1846,  said:— 

"  Thus  are  the  ministry  of  the  evangelical  Protestant 
denominations  not  only  formed  all  the  way  up  under  a 
tremendous  pressure  of  merely  human  fear,  but  they  live, 
and  move,  and  breathe  in  a  state  of  things  radically  cor- 
rupt, and  appealing  every  hour  to  every  baser  element  of 
their  nature  to  hush  up  the  truth,  and  bow  the  knee  to 
the  power  of  apostasy.  Was  not  this  the  way  things 
went  with  Pome  ]  Are  we  not  living  her  life  over  again  ] 
And  what  do  we  see  just  ahead  1  Another  general  coun- 
cil 1  a  world's  convention!  Evangelical  Alliance  and  Uni- 
versal Creed!  " 

The  Banner  of  Light  of  July  80,  1864,  said: — 

"  A  system  will  be  unfolded  sooner  or  later  that  will 
embrace  in  its  folds  Church  and  State  ;  for  the  object  of 
the  two  should  be  one  and  the  same.  The  time  is  rapidly 
approaching  when  the  world  will  be  startled  by  a  voice 
that  shall  say  to  every  form  of.  oppression  and  wrong, 
'  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther.'  Old  things  are 
rapidly  passing  away  in  the  religious  and  social,  as  well 
as  in  the  political  world.  Behold,  all  things  must  be 
formed  anew." 

The  Church  Advocate,  in  March,  1870,  speaking 
of  the  formation  of  an  "Independent  American 
Catholic  Church/'  a  movement  now  agitated  in  this 
country,  said : — 


138  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

"  There  is  evidently  some  secret  power  at  work  which 
may  be  preparing  the  world  for  great  events  in  the  near 
future." 

A  Mr.  Havens,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  New 
York  a  few  years  ago,  said : — 

"For  my  own  part,  I  wait  to  see  the  day  when  a  Lu- 
ther shall  spring  up  in  this  country,  who  shall  found  a 
great  American  Catholic  Church,  instead  of  a  great  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church ;  and  who  shall  teach  men  that 
they  can  be  good  Catholics  without  professing  allegiance 
to  a  pontiff*  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic." 

There  is  every  indication  that  at  no  distant  day 
such  a  church  will  be  seen,  not,  indeed,  raised  up 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  Luther,  but  rather 
through  the  operation  of  the  same  spiiit  that  in- 
spired a  Fernando  Nunez  or  a  Torquemada. 


Qfiayptcr^   ^c^vi. 


THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST. 

THE  principal  acts  ascribed  to  the  two-horned 
beast,  which  seem  to  be  performed  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  the  papal  beast,  are,  causing 
men  to  worship  that  beast,  causing  them  to  make 
an  image  to  that  beast,  and  enforcing  upon  them 
the  mark  of  the  beast.  The  image,  after  it  is 
created  and  endowed  with  life,  undertakes  to  en- 
force the  worship  of  itself.  To  avoid  confusion,  we 
must  keep  these  parties  distinct  in  our  minds. 
There  are  three  here  brought  before  us  : — 

1.  The  papal  beast.  This  power  is  designated  as 
"the  beast,"  "the  first  beast,"  "the  beast  which 
had  the  wound  by  a  sword,  and  did  live,"  and  the 
"beast  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed."  These 
expressions  all  refer  to  the  same  power;  and  wher- 
ever they  occur  in  this  prophecy,  they  have  exclu- 
sive reference  to  the  papacy. 

2.  The  two-horned  beast.  This  power,  after  its 
introduction  in  verse  11  of  Rev.  13,  is  represented 
through  the  remainder  of  the  prophecy  by  the  pro- 
noun "he;"  and  wherever  this  pronoun  occurs, 
down  to  the  l7th  verse  (with  possibly  the  exception 
of  the  16  th  verse,  which  perhaps  may  refer  to  the 
image),  it  refers  invariably  to  the  two-horned  beast. 

'        [139] 


140  THE    UNITED   STATES   IN   TROPHECY. 

3.  The  image  of  the  beast.  This  is,  every  time, 
with  the  exception  just  stated,  called  the  image;  so 
that  there  is  no  danger  of  confounding  this  with 
any  other  agent. 

The  acts  ascribed  to  the  image  are,  speaking,  and 
enforcing  the  worship  of  itself  under  the  penalty  of 
death  ;  and  this  is  the  only  enactment  which  the 
prophecy  mentions  as  enforced  under  the  death  pen- 
alty. Just  what  will  constitute  this  worship,  it  will 
perhaps  be  impossible  to  determine  till  the  image 
itself  shall  have  an  existence.  It  will  evidently  be 
some  act  or  acts  by  which  men  will  be  required  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  that  image,  and  yield 
obedience  to  its  mandates. 

The  mark  of  the  beast  is  enforced  by  the  two- 
horned  beast,  either  directly  or  through  the  image. 
The  penalty  attached  to  a  refusal  to  receive  this 
mark  is  a  forfeiture  of  all  social  privileges,  a  depri- 
vation of  the  right  to  buy  and  sell.  The  mark  is 
the  mark  of  the  papal  beast.  Against  this  worship 
of  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  the  reception  of  his 
mark,  the  third  angel's  message  of  Rev.  14:  9-12,  is 
a  most  solemn  and  thrilling  warning. 

Here,  then,  is  the  issue  before  us.  Human  organ- 
izations, controlled  and  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  the 
draoron,  are  to  command  men  to  do  those  acts  which 
are  in  reality  the  worshiping  of  an  apostate  religious 
power  and  the  receiving  of  his  mark,  or  lose  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  and  become  outlaws  in  the 
land, — to  do  that  which  constitucs  the  worship  of 


THE  Mark  oi"  the  beast.  141 

the  image  of  the  beast,  or  forfeit  their  lives.  On 
the  other  hand,  God  says,  by  a  message  mercifully 
sent  out  a  little  before  the  fearful  crisis  is  upon  us, 
Do  any  of  these  things,  and  you  "shall  drink  of  the 
wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  poured  out  with- 
out mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indignation."  He 
who  refuses  to  comply  with  these  demands  of  earthly 
powers  exposes  himself  to  the  severest  penalties 
which  human  beings  can  inflict;  and  he  who  does 
comply,  exposes  himself  to  the  most  terrible  threat- 
ening of  divine  wrath  to  be  found  in  the  word  of 
God.  The  question  whether  we  will  obey  God  or 
man  is  to  be  decided  by  the  people  of  the  present 
age,  under  the  heaviest  pressure,  from  either  side, 
that  has  ever  been  brought  to  bear  upon  any  gener- 
ation. 

The  worship  of  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  the 
reception  of  his  mark,  must  be  something  that  in- 
volves the  greatest  offense  that  can  be  committed 
against  God,  to  call  down  so  severe  a  denunciation 
of  wrath  against  it.  This  is  a  work,  as  was  shown 
in  Chapter  Four,  which  takes  place  in  the  last  days ; 
and  as  God  has  given  us  in  his  word  most  abundant 
evidence  to  show  when  we  are  in  the  last  days,  that 
no  one  need  be  overtaken  by  the  day  of  the  Lord  as 
by  a  thief,  so,  likewise,  it  must  be  that  he  has  given 
us  the  means  whereby  we  may  determine  what  this 
great  latter-day  sin  is  which  he  has  so  strongly  con- 
demned, that  we  may  avoid  the  fearful  penalty  so 
sure   to   follow  its   commission.     God    does   not  so 


142  THE   UNITED  STATES   IK  PROPHECY. 

trifle  with  human  hopes  and  human  destinies  as  t( 
denounce  a  most  fearful  doom  against  a  certain  sin, 
and  then  place  it  out  of  our  power  to  understand 
what  that  sin  is,  so  that  we  have  no  means  of  guard- 
ing against  it. 
v/  That  we  are  now  living  in  the  last  days,  the  vol 
umes  of  both  revelation  and  nature  bear  ample  and 
harmonious  testimony.  Evidence  on  this  point  we 
need  not  here  stop  to  introduce;  for  the  testimony 
already  presented  in  the  foregoing  chapters  of  this 
work,  showing  that  the  two-horned  beast  is  now  on 
the  stage  of  action,  is  in  itself  conclusive  proof  of 
this  great  fact,  inasmuch  as  the  power  exists  and 
performs  its  work  in  the  very  closing  period  of  hu- 
man history.  All  these  things  tell  us  that  the  time 
has  now  come  for  the  proclamation  of  the  third 
message  of  Rev.  14  to  be  given,  and  for  men  to  un- 
derstand the  terms  it  uses  and  the  warning  it  gives. 
We  therefore  now  call  attention  to  the  very  im- 
portant inquiry.  What  constitutes  the  mark  of  the 
beast?  The  figure  of  a  mark  is  borrowed  from  an 
ancient  custom.  Says  Bishop  Newton  (Dissertations 
on  the  Prophecies,  Vol.  iii.  p.  241): — 

"  It  was  customary  among  the  ancients  for  servants  to 
receive  the  mark  of  their  master,  and  soldiers  of  tlieir 
general,  and  those  who  were  devoted  to  any  particular 
deity,  of  the  particular  deity  to  whom  they  were  devoted. 
These  marks  were  usually  impressed  on  their  right  hand 
or  on  their  foreheads,  and  consisted  of  some  hieroglyphic 
character,  or  of  the  name  expressed  in  vulgar  letters,  or 


THE  MAUlt  OF  THfi  BEAST.  14S 

of  the  name  disguised  in  numerical  letters,  according  to 
the  fancy  of  the  imposer." 

Prideaux  says  that  Ptolemy  Philopater  ordered  all 
the  Jews  who  applied  to  be  enrolled  as  citizens  of 
Alexandria  to  have  the  form  of  an  ivy  leaf  (the 
badge  of  his  god,  Bacchus)  impressed  upon  them 
with  a  hot  iron,  under  pain  of  death.  ( ''  Connection, " 
Vol.  ii.  p.  78.) 

The  word  used  for  mark  in  this  prophecy  is 
charagma  (xagay/^a),  and  is  defined  to  mean,  "a 
graving,  sculpture;  a  mark  cut  in  or  stamped."  It 
occurs  nine  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  with 
the  single  exception  of  Acts  17:  29,  refers  every  time 
to  the  mark  of  the  beast.  We  are  not,  of  course,  to 
understand  in  this  symbolic  prophecy  that  a  literal 
mark  is  intended ;  but  the  giving  of  the  literal  mark, 
as  practiced  in  ancient  times,  is  used  as  a  figure  to 
illustrate  certain  acts  that  will  be  performed  in  the 
fulfillment  of  this  prophecy.  And  from  the  literal 
mark  as  formerly  employed,  we  learn  something  of 
its  meaning  as  used  in  the  prophecy;  for  between 
the  symbol  and  the  thing  symbolized  there  must  be 
some  resemblance.  The  mark,  as  literally  used,  sig- 
nified that  the  person  receiving  it  was  the  servant 
of,  acknowledged  the  authority  of,  or  professed  al- 
legiance to,  the  person  whose  mark  he  bore.  So  the 
mark  of  the  beast,  or  of  the  papacy,  must  be  some  act 
or  profession  by  which  the  authority  of  that  power 
is  acknowledged.     What  is  it? 

It  would  naturally  be  looked  for  in  some  of  the 


144  THE.tJNiTED   STATES   IN    PHuPHECY. 

special  characteristics  of  the  papal  power.  Daniel, 
describing  that  power  under  the  symbol  of  a  little 
horn,  speaks  of  it  as  waging  a  special  warfare? 
against  God,  Avearing  out  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  and  thinking  to  change  times  and  laws.  The 
prophet  expressly  specifies  on  this  point:  "  He  shall 
think  to  change  times  and  laws."  These  laws  must 
certainly  be  the  laws  of  the  Most  High.  To  apply 
it  to  human  laws,  and  make  the  prophecy  read, 
"  And  he  shall  speak  great  words  against  the  Most 
High,  and  shall  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  and  think  to  change  human  laws,"  would  be 
doing  evident  violence  to  the  language  of  the  prophet. 
But  apply  it  to  the  laws  of  God,  and  let  it  read, 
"And  he  shall  speak  great  words  against  the  Most 
High,  and  shall  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High^ 
and  shall  think  to  change  the  times  and  laws  of  the 
Most  High,"  and  all  is  consistent  and  forcible.  The 
Hebrew  has  rin,  law,  and  the  Septuagint  reads, 
nomos  (vufjog),  in  the  singular,  "  the  law,"  which  more 
directly  suggests  the  law  of  God.  The  papacy  has 
been  able  to  do  more  than  merely  "  think  "  to  change 
human  laws.  It  has  changed  them  at  pleasure. 
It  has  annulled  the  decrees  of  kings  and  emperors, 
and  absolved  subjects  from  allegiance  to  their  right- 
ful sovereigns.  It  has  thrust  its  long  arm  into  the 
affairs  of  nations,  and  brought  rulers  to  its  feet  in 
the  most  abject  humility.  But  the  prophet  beholds 
greater  acts  of  presumption  than  these.  He  sees  it 
endeavor  to  do  what  it  was  not  able  to  do,  but  could 


THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST.  145 

only  think  to  do;  he  sees  it  attempt  an  act  which 
no  man,  nor  any  combination  of  men,  can  ever  ac- 
comphsh ;  and  that  is,  to  change  the  law  of  the  Most 
High.  Bear  this  in  mind  while  we  look  at  the  tes- 
timony of  another  sacred  writer  on  this  very  point. 
Paul  speaks  of  the  same  power  in  2  Thess.  2;  and 
he  describes  it,  in  the  person  of  the  pope,  as  the  man 
of  sin,  and  as  sitting  as  God  in  the  temple  of  God 
(that  is,  the  church),  and  as  exalting  himself  above 
all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshiped.  Accord- 
ing to  this,  the  pope  sets  himself  up  as  the  one  for 
all  the  church  to  look  to  for  authority,  in  the  place 
of  God.  And  now  we  ask  the  reader  to  ponder 
carefully  the  question  how  he  can  exalt  himself 
above  God.  Search  through  the  whole  range  of  hu- 
man devices,  go  to  the  extent  of  human  effort;  by 
what  plan,  by  what  move,  by  what  claim,  could  this 
usurper  exalt  himself  above  God?  He  might  insti- 
tute any  number  of  ceremonies,  he  might  prescribe 
any  form  of  worship,  he  might  exhibit  any  degree 
of  powder ;  but  so  long  as  God  had  requirements  which 
the  people  felt  bound  to  regard  in  preference  to  his 
own,  so  long  he  would  not  be  above  God.  He  might 
enact  a  law,  and  teach  the  people  that  they  were  un- 
der as  great  obligations  to  that  as  to  the  law  of  God ; 
then  he  would  only  make  himself  equal  with  God. 
But  he  is  to  do  more  than  this ;  he  is  to  attempt  to 
raise  himself  above  him.  Then  he  must  promulgate 
a  law  which  conflicts  with  the  law  of  God,  and  de- 
mand obedience  to  his  own  law  in  preference  to 
10 


146  THE 'UNITED  STATES  m  PHOPIlECY. 

God's.  There  is  no  other  possible  way  in  which  he 
could  place  himself  in  the  position  assigned  in  the 
prophecy.  But  this  is  simply  to  change  the  law  of 
God ;  and  if  he  can  cause  this  change  to  be  adopted 
by  the  people  in  place  of  the  original  enactment, 
then  he,  the  law-changer,  is  above  God,  the  law- 
maker. And  this  is  the  very  work  that  Daniel  said 
he  should  think  to  do. 

Such  a  work  as  this,  then,  the  papacy  must  ac- 
complish according  to  the  prophecy;  and  the  proph- 
ecy cannot  fail.  And  when  this  is  done,  what  do 
the  people  of  the  world  have?  They  have  two  laws 
demanding  obedience, — one,  the  law  of  God  as  orig- 
inally enacted  by  him,  an  embodiment  of  his  will, 
and  expressing  his  claims  upon  his  creatures;  the 
other,  a  revised  edition  of  that  law,  emanating  from 
the  pope  of  Rome,  and  expressing  his  will.  And  how 
is  it  to  be  determined  which  of  these  powers  the  peo- 
ple honor  and  worship?  It  is  determined  by  the 
law  which  they  keep.  If  they  keep  the  law  of  God 
as  given  by  him,  they  worship  and  obey  God.  If 
they  keep  the  law  as  changed  by  the  papacy,  they 
worship  that  power.  But  further :  the  prophecy  does 
not  say  that  the  little  horn  should  set  aside  the  law 
of  God,  and  give  one  entirely  different.  This  would 
not  be  to  change  the  law,  but  simply  to  give  a  new 
one.  He  was  only  to  attempt  a  change,  so  that 
the  law  that  comes  from  God,  and  the  law  that 
comes  from  the  papacy,  are  precisely  alike,  excepting 
the   change   which   the   papacy   has   made   in   the 


THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST.         147 

former.  They  have  many  points  in  common.  But 
none  of  the  precepts  which  they  contain  in  common 
can  distinguish  a  person  as  the  worshiper  of  either 
power  in  preference  to  the  other.  If  God's  law  says, 
"Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  and  the  law  as  given  by  the 
papacy  says  the  same,  no  one  can  tell  by  a  person's 
observance  of  that  precept  whether  he  designed  to 
obey  God  rather  than  the  pope,  or  the  pope  rather 
than  God.  But  when  a  precept  that  has  been 
changed  is  the  subject  of  action,  then  whoever  ob- 
serves that  precept  as  originally  given  by  God,  is 
thereby  distinguished  as  a  worshiper  of  God ;  and  he 
who  keeps  it  as  changed,  is  thereby  marked  as  a  fol- 
lower of  the  power  that  made  the  change.  In  no 
other  way  can  the  two  classes  of  worshipers  be  dis- 
tin^ruished.  From  this  conclusion,  no  candid  mind 
can  dissent;  but  in  this  conclusion  we  have  a  general 
answer  to  the  question,  "What  constitutes  the  mark 
of   the  beast?"  namely.  The  mark  of  the  beast 

IS  THE  change  he  HAS  MADE  IN  THE  LAW  OF  GOD. 

We  now  inquire  what  that  change  is.  By  the 
law  of  God  we  mean  the  moral  law,  the  only  law 
in  the  universe  of  immutable  and  perpetual  obliga- 
tion,—the  law  of  which  W^ebster  says,  defining  the 
terms  according  to  the  sense  in  wdiich  they  are  al- 
most universally  used  in  Christendom,  "  The  moral 
law  is  summarily  contained  in  the  decalogue,  written 
by  the  finger  of  God  on  two  tables  of  stone,  and 
delivered  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai." 

If,  now,  the  reader  will    compare    the  ten  com- 


148  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

mandments  as  found  in  Roman  Catholic  catechisms 
with  those  commandments  as  found  in  the  Bible,  he 
will  see  in  the  catechisms  that  the  second  command- 
ment is  left  out,  that  the  tenth  is  divided  into  two 
to  make  up  the  lack  caused  by  leaving  out  the 
second,  and  keep  good  the  number  ten,  and  that 
the  fourth  commandment  (called  the  third  in  their 
enumeration)  is  made  to  enjoin  the  observance  of 
Sunday  as  the  Sabbath,  and  prescribe  that  the  day 
shall  be  spent  in  hearing  mass  devoutly,  attending 
vespers,  and  reading  moral  and  pious  books.  Here  are 
several  variations  from  the  decalogue  as  found  in 
the  Bible.  Which  of  them  constitutes  the  change  of 
the  law  intended  in  the  prophecy  ?  or  are  they  all 
included  in  that  change  ?  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind, 
that,  according  to  the  prophecy,  he  was  to  think  to 
change  times  and  laws.  This  plainly  conveys  the 
idea  of  intention  and  design,  and  makes  these  qual- 
ities essential  to  the  change  in  question.  But  re- 
specting the  omission  of  the  second  commandment, 
Catholics  argue  that  it  is  included  in  the  first,  and 
hence  should  not  be  numbered  as  a  separate  com- 
mandment. And  on  the  tenth  they  claim  that  there 
is  so  plain  a  distinction  of  ideas  as  to  require  two 
commandments.  So  they  make  the  coveting  of  a 
neighbor's  wife  the  ninth  command,  and  the  covet- 
intr  of  his  gfoods  the  tenth. 

In  all  this  they  claim  that  they  are  giving  the 
commandments  exactly  as  God  intended  to  have 
them  understood.     So,  while  we  may  regard  them 


THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST.         149 

as  errors  in  their  interpretation  of  the  command- 
ments, we  cannot  set  them  down  as  intentional 
changes.  Not  so,  however,  Avith  the  fourth  com- 
mandment. Respecting  this  commandment  they 
do  not  claim  that  their  version  is  like  that  given  by 
God.  They  expressly  claim  a  change  here,  and  also 
that  the  change  has  been  made  by  the  church.  A 
few  quotations  from  standard  Catholic  works  will 
make  this  matter  plain.  In  a  work  entitled, 
"  Treatise  of  Thirty  Controversies,"  we  find  these 
words  : — 

"  The  word  of  God  command (^th  the  seventh  day  to  be 
the  Sabbath  of  our  Ijord,  and  to  be  kept  holy ;  you 
[Protestants],  without  any  precept  of  Scripture,  change 
it  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  only  authorized  by  our 
traditions.  Divers  English  Puritans  oppose,  against  this 
point,  that  the  observation  of  the  first  day  is  proved  out 
of  Scripture,  where  it  is  said,  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
Acts  20  :  7  ;  1  Cor.  16:2;  Rev.  1:10.  Have  they  not 
spun  a  fair  thread  in  quoting  these  places  1  If  we  should 
produce  no  better  for  purgatory  and  prayers  for  the  dead, 
invocation  of  the  saints,  and  the  like,  they  might  have 
good  cause,  indeed,  to  laugh  us  to  scorn;  for  where  is  it 
written  that  these  were  Sabbath  days  in  which  those 
meetings  were  kept  %  Or  where  is  it  ordained  they  should 
be  always  observed  %  Or,  which  is  the  sum  of  all,  where 
is  it  decreed  that  the  osbervation  of  the  first  day  should 
abrogate,  or  abolish,  the  sanctifying  of  the  seventh  day, 
which  God  commanded  everlastingly  to  be  kept  holy  % 
Not  one  of  these  is  expressed  in  the  written  word  of  God.' 

In  the  "  Catholic  Catechism  of  Christian  Roligion," 


150  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

on  the  subject  of  the  third  (fourth)  commandment, 
we  find  these  questions  and  answers: — 

"  Ques.   What  does  God  ordain  by  this  commandment  1 

"  Aois.  He  ordains  that  we  sanctify,  iii  a  special  man- 
ner, this  day  on  which  he  rested  from  the  labor  of 
creation . 

"  Q.  What  is  this  day  of  rest  1 

"A.  The  seventh  day  of  the  weeK,  or  Saturday  ;  for 
he  employed  six  days  in  creation,  and  rested  on  the  sev- 
enth.    Gen.  2:2;  Heb.  4:1;  etc. 

"  Q.  Is  it,  then,  Saturday  we  should  sanctify  in  order 
to  obey  the  ordinance  of  God  ? 

^'  A.  During  the  old  law,  Saturday  was  the  day  sanc- 
tified ;  but  the  church,  instructed  by  Jesus  Christ,  and 
directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  has  substituted  Sunday 
for  Saturday  ;  so  now  we  sanctify  the  first,  not  the  sev- 
enth day.  Sunday  means,  and  now  is,  the  day  of  the 
Lord." 

In  the  "  Catholic  Christian  Instructed,"  we  read: — 

"  Ques.  What  warrant  have  you  for  keeping  the  Sun- 
day preferable  to  the  ancient  Sabbath,  which  was  the 
Saturday  1 

"  A71S.  We  have  for  it  the  authority  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  apostolic  tradition. 

"  Q.  Does  the  Scripture  anywhere  command  the  Sun- 
day to  1)0  kept  for  the  Sabbath  1 

"A.  The  Scripture  commands  us  to  hear  the  church 
(Matt.  18  :  17  ;  Luke  10  :  IG),  and  to  hold  fast  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  apostles.  2  Thess.  2  :  15.  But  the  Script- 
ures do  not  in  ]»articul:ir  uiention  this  change  of  the  Sab- 
bath." 


THE   MARK   OF   THE   BEAST.  151 

In  the  "Doctrinal  Catechism"  we  find  further 
testimony  to  the  same  point: — 

"  Ques.  Have  you  any  other  way  of  proving  that  the 
church  has  power  to  institute  festivals  of  precept  1 

"  Ans.  Had  she  not  such  power,  she  could  not  have 
done  that  in  which  all  modern  religionists  agree  with  her 
— she  could  not  have  substituted  the  observance  of  Sun- 
day, the  first  day  of  the  week,  for  the  observance  of  Sat- 
urday, the  seventh  day,  a  change  for  which  there  is  no 
Scriptural  authority." 

In  "Abridgment  of  Christian  Doctrine,"  we  find 
this  testimony  : — 

"  Ques.  How  prove  you  that  the  church  hath  power  to 
command  feasts  and  holy  days'? 

"Ans.  By  the  very  act  of  changing  the  Sabbath  into 
Sunday,  which  Protestants  allow  of;  and  therefore  they 
fondly  contradict  themselves  by  keeping  Sunday  strictly, 
and  breaking  most  other  feasts  commanded  by  the  same 
church. 

"  Q.  How  prove  you  that  1 

"A.  Because  by  keeping  Sunday  they  acknowledge  the 
church's  power  to  ordain  feasts,  and  to  command  them 
imder  sin." 

And  finally,  W.  Lockhart,  late  B.  A.  of  Oxford, 
in  the  Toronto  (Catholic)  Mirror,  offered  the  follow- 
ing "challenge"  to  all  the  Protestants  of  Ireland, — a 
challenge  as  well  calculated  for  this  latitude  as  that. 
He  says  : — 

*'I  do,  therefore,  solemnly  challenge  the  Protestants 
of  Ireland  to  prove,  by  plain  texts  of  Scripture,  these 
(juestions   concerning   the   obligations  of  the  Christian 


152  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

Sabbath  :  1.  That  Christians  may  work  on  Saturday, 
the  old  seventh  day ;  2.  That  they  are  bound  to  keep 
holy  the  first  day,  namely,  Sunday;  3.  That  they  are 
not  bound  to  keep  holy  the  seventh  day  also." 

This  is  what  the  papal  power  claims  to  have  done 
respecting  the  fourth  commandment.  Catholics 
plainly  acknowledge  that  there  is  no  Scriptural  au- 
thority for  the  change  they  have  made,  but  that  it 
rests  wholly  upon  the  authority  of  the  church;  and 
they  claim  it  as  a  token,  or  mark,  of  the  authority  of 
that  church,  the  ''very  act  of  changing  the  Sabbath 
into  Sunday''  being  set  forth  as  proof  of  its  power 
in  this  respect.  For  further  testimony  on  this  point, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  a  tract  published  at  the  Re- 
view Office,  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  entitled,  "Who 
Chanp-ed  the  Sabbath?"  in  which  are  also  extracts 

o 

from  Catholic  writers  refuting  the  arguments  usu- 
ally relied  upon  to  prove  the  Sunday  Sabbath,  and 
showing  that  its  only  authority  is  the  Catholic 
Church. 

''But,"  says  one,  "I  supposed  that  Christ  changed 
the  Sabbath."  A  great  many  suppose  so;  and  it  is 
natural  that  they  should,  for  they  have  been  so 
taught.  And  while  we  have  no  words  of  denuncia- 
tion to  utter  against  any  such  persons  for  so  believ- 
ing, we  would  have  them  at  once  understand  that 
it  is,  in  reality,  one  of  the  most  enormous  of  all 
errors.  We  would  therefore  remind  such  persons 
that,  according  to  the  prophecy,  the;  only  change 
ever  to  be  made  in  the  law  of  God,  was  to  l)e  made 
by  the  little  horn  of   Dan  7,  the  man  of  sin  of  2 


THE   MARK   OF   THE   BEAST.  153 

Thess.  2  ;  and  the  only  change  that  has  been  made 
in  it,  is  the  change  of  the  Sabbath.  Now,  if  Christ 
made  this  change,  he  filled  the  office  of  the  blasphe- 
mous power  spoken  of  by  both  Daniel  and  Paul, — a 
conclusion  sufficiently  hideous  to  drive  any  Christian 
from  the  view  which  leads  thereto. 

Why  should  any  one  labor  to  prove  that  Christ 
changed  the  Sabbath?  Whoever  does  this  is  per- 
forming a  thankless  task.  The  pope  will  not  thank 
him;  for  if  it  is  proved  that  Christ  wrought  this 
change,  then  the  pope  is  robbed  of  his  badge  of  au- 
thority and  power.  And  no  truly  enlightened  Prot- 
estant will  thank  him;  for  if  he  succeeds,  he  only 
shows  that  the  papacy  has  not  done  the  work  which 
it  was  predicted  that  it  should  do,  and  so  that  the 
prophecy  has  failed,  and  the  Scriptures  are  unrelia- 
ble. The  matter  had  better  stand  as  the  prophecy 
has  placed  it,  and  the  claim  which  the  pope  unwit- 
tingly puts  forth  had  better  be  granted.  When  a 
person  is  charged  with  any  work,  and  that  person 
steps  forth  and  confesses  that  he  has  done  the  work, 
that  is  usually  considered  sufficient  to  settle  the 
matter.  So,  when  the  prophecy  affirms  that  a  cer- 
tain power  shall  change  the  law  of  God,  and  in  due 
time  that  very  power  arises,  does  the  work  foretold, 
and  then  openly  claims  that  he  has  done  it,  what 
need  have  we  of  further  evidence?  The  world 
should  not  forget  that  the  great  apostasy  foretold  by 
Paul  has  taken  place ;  that  the  man  of  sin  for  long 
ages  held  almost  a  monopoly  of  Christian  teaching  in 
the  world ;  that  the  mystery  of  iniquity  has  cast  the 


154  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

darkness  of  its  shadow  and  the  en^ors  of  its  doctrines 
over  ahnost  all  Christendom ;  and  that  out  of  this  era 
of  error  and  darkness  and  corruption,  the  theology 
of  our  day  has  come.  Would  it,  then,  be  anything 
strange  if  there  were  yet  some  relics  of  popery  to  be 
discarded  ere  the  reformation  will  be  complete?  A. 
Campbell  (Baptism,  p.  15),  speaking  of  the  different 
Protestant  sects,  says  : — 

"  All  of  them  retain  in  their  bosom, — in  their  ecclesias- 
tical organizations,  worship,  doctrines,  and  observances, — 
various  rehcs  of  poj^eiy.  They  are  at  best  a  reformation 
of  popery,  and  only  reformations  in  part.  The  doctrines 
and  traditions  of  men  yet  impair  the  power  and  progress 
of  the  gospel  in  their  hands." 

The  nature  of  the  change  which  the  little  horn 
has  attempted  to  effect  in  the  law  of  God  is  worthy 
of  notice.  With  true  satanic  instinct,  he  undertakes 
to  change  that  commandment  which,  of  all  others,  is 
the  fundamental  commandment  of  the  law,  the  one 
which  makes  known  who  the  lawgiver  is,  and  con- 
tains his  signature  of  royalty.  The  fourth  command- 
ment does  this ;  no  other  one  does.  Four  others,  it  is 
true,  contain  the  word  "God,"  and  three  of  them  the 
word  "Lord,"  also.  But  Avho  is  this  Lord  God  of 
whom  they  speak?  Witliout  the  fourth  command- 
ment, it  is  impossible  to  tell ;  for  idolaters  of  every 
grade  apply  these  terms  to  the  multitudinous  objects 
of  their  adoration.  With  the  fourth  command- 
ment to  point  out  th(3  Author  of  the  decalogue,  the 
claims  of  every  false  god  are  annulled  at  one  stroke; 


THE   MARK   OF    THE   BEAST.  155 

for  the  God  who  here  demands  our  worship  is  not 
any  created  being,  but  the  One  who  created  all 
things.  The  maker  of  the  earth  and  sea,  the  sun  and 
moon,  and  all  the  starry  host,  the  upholder  and 
governor  of  the  universe,  is  the  One  who  claims, 
and  who,  from  his  position,  has  a  right  to  claim,  our 
supreme  regard  in  preference  to  every  other  object. 
The  commandment  which  makes  known  these  facts 
is,  therefore,  the  very  one  we  might  suppose  that 
power  which  designed  to  exalt  itself  above  God 
would  undertake  to  change.  God  gave  the  Sabbath 
as  a  memorial  of  himself,  a  weekly  reminder  to  the 
sons  of  men  of  his  work  in  creating  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  a  great  barrier  against  atheism  and  idola- 
try. It  is  the  signature  and  seal  of  the  law.  This 
the  papacy  has  torn  from  its  place,  and  erected  in 
its  stead,  on  its  own  authority,  another  institution, 
designed  to  serve  another  purpose. 

This  change  of  the  fourth  commandment  must 
therefore  be  the  change  to  which  the  prophecy 
points,  and  Sunday-keeping  must  be  the  mark  of 
the  beast !  Some  who  have  lonff  been  tauofht  to  re- 
gard  this  institution  with  reverence  will  perhaps 
start  back  with  little  less  than  feelings  of  horror  at 
this  conclusion.  We  have  not  space,  nor  is  this  per- 
haps the  place,  to  enter  into  an  extended  argument 
on  the  Sabbath  question,  and  an  exposition  of  the 
origin  and  nature  of  the  observance  of  the  first  day 
of  the  week.  Let  us  submit  this  one  proposition : 
If  the  seventh  day  is  still  the  Sabbath  enjoined  in 
the  fourth  commandment  ;  if  the  observance  of  the 


156  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

first  day  of  the  week  has  no  foundation  whatever  in 
the  Scriptures  ;  if  this  observance  has  been  brought 
in  as  a  Christian  institution,  and  designedly  put  in 
place  of  the  Sabbath  of  the  decalogue  by  that  power 
which  is  symbolized  by  the  beast,  and  placed  there 
as  a  badge  and  token  of  its  power  to  legislate  for 
the  church,  is  it  not  inevitably  the  mark  of  the 
beast?  The  answer  must  be  in  the  affirmative. 
But  all  these  hypotheses  can  easily  be  shown  to  be 
certainties.  See  "History  of  the  Sabbath,"  and 
other  works  on  the  subject,  published  at  the  Review 
Office.  To  these  we  can  only  refer  the  reader,  in 
passing. 

It  will  be  said  again.  Then  all  Sunday-keepei-s 
have  the  mark  of  the  beast;  then  all  the  good  of 
past  ages  who  kept  this  day  had  the  mark  of,  the 
beast  ;  then  Luther,  Whitefield,  the  Wesleys,  and 
all  who  have  done  a  good  and  noble  work  of  refor- 
mation, had  the  mark  of  the  beast;  then  all  the 
blessings  that  have  been  poured  upon  the  reformed 
churches  have  been  poured  upon  those  who  had  the 
mark  of  the  beast.  We  answer,  No !  And  we  are 
sorry  to  say  that  some  professedly  religious  teachers, 
though  many  times  corrected,  persist  in  misrepre- 
senting us  on  this  point.  We  have  never  so  held ; 
we  have  never  so  taught.  Our  premises  lead  to  no 
such  conclusions.  Give  ear :  The  mark  and  worship 
of  the  beast  are  enforced  by  the  two-horned  beast. 
The  receiving  of  the  mark  of  the  beast  is  a  specific 
act  which  the  two-horned  Ix'ast  is  to  cause  to  be 
done.      The  third  message  of  Hev.  14  is  a  warning 


THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST.  157 

mercifully  sent  out  iu  advance  to  prepare  the  people 
for  the  coming  danger.  There  can,  therefore,  be  no 
worship  of  the  beast,  nor  reception  of  his  mark,  such  as 
is  contemplated  in  the  prophecy,  till  it  is  en- 
forced by  the  two-horned  beast.  We  have  seen  that 
intention  was  essential  to  the  change  which  the  pa- 
pacy has  made  in  the  law  of  God,  to  constitute  it  the 
mark  of  that  power.  So  intention  is  necessary  in 
the  adoption  of  that  change  to  make  it,  on  the  part 
of  any  individual,  the  reception  of  that  mark.  In 
other  words,  a  person  must  adopt  the  change  know- 
ing it  to  be  the  work  of  the  beast,  and  receive  it  on 
the  authority  of  that  power,  in  opposition  to  the  re- 
quirement of  God. 

But  how  with  those  referred  to  above,  who  have 
kept  Sunday  in  the  past,  and  the  majority  of  those 
who  are  keeping  it  to-day  ?  Do  they  keep  it  as  an 
institution  of  the  papacy?  No.  Have  they  decided 
between  this  and  the  Sabbath  of  our  Lord,  under- 
standing the  claims  of  each?  No.  On  wdiat  ground 
have  they  kept  it,  and  do  they  still  keep  it  ?  They 
suppose  they  are  keeping  a  commandment  of  God. 
Have  such  the  mark  of  the  beast  ?  By  no  means. 
Their  course  is  attributable  to  an  error  unwittingly 
received  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  not  to  an  act  of 
worship  rendered  to  it. 

But  how  is  it  to  be  in  the  future  ?  The  church 
which  is  to  be  prepared  for  the  second  coming  of 
Christ  must  be  entirely  free  from  papal  errors  and 
corruptions.  A  reform  must  hence  bo  made  on  the 
Sabbath  question.     The  third  angel   proclaims  the 


158  THE  UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

commandments  of  God,  leading  men  to  the  true  in 
the  place  of  the  counterfeit.  The  dragon  is  stirred, 
and  so  controls  the  wicked  governments  of  the  earth 
that  all  authority  of  human  power  shall  be  exerted 
to  enforce  the  claims  of  the  man  of  sin.  Then  the  is- 
sue is  fairly  before  the  people.  On  the  one  hand,  they 
are  required  to  keep  the  true  Sabbath ;  on  the  other, 
a  counterfeit.  For  refusing  to  keep  the  true,  the 
message  denounces  the  unmingled  wrath  of  God  ; 
for  refusing  the  false,  earthly  governments  threaten 
them  with  persecution  and  death.  With  this  issue 
before  the  people,  what  does  he  do  who  yields  to  the 
human  requirement  ?  He  virtually  says  to  God,  I 
know  your  claims,  but  I  will  not  heed  them.  I 
know  that  the  power  I  am  required  to  worship  is 
anti-Christian,  but  I  yield  to  it  to  save  my  life.  I 
renounce  your  allegiance,  and  bow  to  the  usurper. 
The  beast  is  henceforth  the  object  of  my  adoration; 
under  his  banner,  in  opposition  to  your  authority,  I 
henceforth  array  myself;  to  him,  in  defiance  of  your 
claims,  I  henceforth  yield  the  obedience  of  my  heart 
and  life. 

Such  is  the  spirit  which  will  actuate  the  hearts  of 
the  beast- worshipers, — a  spirit  which  insults.the  God 
of  the  universe  to  his  face,  and  is  prevented  only  by 
lack  of  power  from  overthrowing  his  government 
and  annihilating  liis  throne.  Is  it  any  wonder  that 
Jehovah  denounces  against  so  Heaven-daring  a 
course  the  most  terrible  threatening  that  his  word 
contains? 


Qdaiptnz^   ^tii^QM', 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END. 

WE  have  now  found  what,  according  to  the 
prophecy,  will  constitute  the  image  which 
the  two-horned  beast  is  to  cause  to  be  made, 
and  the  mark  which  it  will  attempt  to  enforce. 
The  movement  which  is  to  fulfill  this  portion  of  the 
prophecy  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  popular  churches 
of  our  land.  First,  a  union  must  be  effected  be- 
tween these  churches,  with  some  degree  of  coalition 
also  between  these  bodies  and  the  beast  power,  or 
Roman  Catholicism;  and  secondly,  steps  must  be 
taken  to  bring  the  law  of  the  land  to  the  support  of 
the  Sunday  Sabbath.  These  movements  the  proph- 
ecy calls  for;  and  the  line  of  argument  leading  to 
these  conclusions  is  so  direct  and  well-defined  that 
there  is  no  avoiding  them.  They  are  a  clear  and 
logical  sequence  from  the  premises  given  us. 

When  the  application  of  Rev.  13  :  11-17  to  the 
United  States  was  first  made,  over  thirty-three 
years  ago,  these  positions  respecting  a  union  of  the 
churches  and  a  grand  Sunday  movement  were 
taken.  But  at  that  time  no  sign  appeared  above  or 
beneath,  at  home  or  abroad, — no  token  was  seen,  no 
indication  existed,  that  such  an  issue  would  ever  be 

[159] 


160  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

made.  But  there  was  the  prophecy,  and  that  raust 
stand.  The  United  States  government  had  given 
abundant  evidence,  by  its  location,  the  time  of  its  rise, 
the  manner  of  its  rise,  and  its  apparent  character,  that 
it  was  the  power  symbolized  by  the  two-horned  beast. 
There  could  be  no  mistake  in  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  the  very  nation  intended  by  that  symbol.  This 
being  so,  it  must  take  the  course,  and  perform  the 
acts  foretold.  But  here  were  predictions  which 
could  be  fulfilled  by  nothing  less  than  the  above- 
named  movement  respecting  Church  and  State,  and 
the  enforcement  of  the  papal  Sabbath  as  a  mark  of 
the  beast. 

To  take  the  position  at  that  time  that  this  gov- 
ernment was  to  pursue  such  a  policy  and  engage  in 
such  a  work,  without  any  apparent  probability  in 
its  favor,  was  no  small  act  of  faith.  On  the  other 
hand,  to  deny  or  ignore  it,  while  admitting  the  ap- 
plication of  the  symbol  to  this  government,  would 
be  in  accordance  with  neither  Scripture  nor  logic. 
The  only  course  for  the  humble,  confiding  student 
of  prophecy  to  pursue  in  such  cases,  is  to  take  the 
light  as  it  is  given,  and  believe  the  prophecy  in  all 
its  parts.  So  the  stand  was  boldly  taken ;  and  open 
proclamation  has  been  made  from  that  day  to  this, 
that  such  a  work  would  be  seen  in  the  United 
States,  With  every  review  of  the  argument,  new 
features  of  sti'ength  have  been  discovered  in  the 
application ;  and  amid  a  storm  of  scornful  incredulity 
we  ha\'o  watched  the  progress  of  events,  and  awaited 
the  hour  of  fulfillment. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END.  161 

Meanwhile,  spiritualism  has  astonished  the  world 
with  its  terrible  progress,  and  shown  itself  to  be  the 
wonder-working  element  which  was  to  exist  in  con- 
nection with  this  power.  This  has  mightily  strength- 
ened the  force  of  the  application.  And  now,  within 
a  few  years  past,  what  have  we  further  seen?  No 
less  than  the  commencement  of  that  very  move- 
ment respecting  the  formation  of  the  image  and  the 
enactment  of  Sunday  laws,  Avhich  we  have  so  long 
expected,  and  which  is  to  complete  the  prophecy, 
and  close  the  scene. 

Reference  was  ma'le  in  Chapter  Nine  to  the  move- 
ment now  on  foot  for  a  grand  union  of  all  the 
churches ;  not  a  union  which  arises  from  the  putting 
away  of  error  and  uniting  upon  the  harmonious 
principles  of  truth,  but  simply  a  combination  of 
sects,  each  retaining  its  own  particular  creed,  but  con- 
federated for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  more  exten- 
sively the  common  points  of  their  faith.  This  move- 
ment finds  a  strong  undercurrent  of  favor  in  all  the 
churches;  and  men  are  engaged  to  carry  it  through 
who  are  not  easily  turned  from  their  purpose. 

And  there  has  suddenly  arisen  a  class  of  men 
whose  souls  are  absorbed  with  the  cognate  idea  of 
Sunday  reform,  and  who  have  dedicated  every  energy 
of  their  being  to  the  carrying  forward  of  this  kin- 
dred movement.  The  "New  York  Sabbath  Com- 
mittee" have  labored  zealously  by  means  of  books, 
tracts,  speeches,  and  sermons,  to  create  a  strong  public 
sentiment  in  behalf  of  Sunday.    Making  slow  progress 

11 


162  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

through  moral  suasion,  they  seek  a  shorter  path  to 
the  accompUshment  of  their  purposes  through  poHt- 
ical  power.  And  why  not?  Christianity  has  be- 
come popular,  and  her  professed  adherents  are  nu- 
merous. Why  not  avail  themselves  of  the  power  of 
the  ballot  to  secure  their  ends?  E-ev.  J.  S.  Smart 
(Methodist),  in  a  published  sermon  on  the  "Political 
Duties  of  Christian  Men  and  Ministers,"  expresses  a 
largely  prevailing  sentiment  on  this  question,  when 
he  says  : — 

"I  claim  that  we  have,  and  ought  to  have,  just  as 
much  concern  in  the  government  of  this  country  as  any 
other  men We  are  the  mass  of  the  people.  Vir- 
tue in  this  country  is  not  weak ;  her  ranks  are  strong  in 
numbers,  and  invincible  from  the  righteousness  of  her 
cause, — invincible  if  united.  Let  not  her  ranks  be 
broken  by  party  names." 

A  "National  Association "  has  been  in  existence  for 
a  number  of  years,  which  has  for  its  object  the  se- 
curing of  such  amendments  to  the  national  Consti- 
tution as  shall  express  the  religious  views  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  and  make  it  an  instrument  un- 
der which  the  keeping  of  Sunday  can  be  enforced  as 
the  Christian  Sabbath.  This  Association  already 
embraces  within  its  organization  a  long  array  of 
eminent  and  honorable  names, — Governors  of  States, 
Presidents  of  colleges.  Bishops,  Doctors  of  Divinity, 
Doctors  of  Law,  and  men  who  occupy  high  positions 
in  all  the  walks  of  life. 

In  the  Address  issued  by  the  officers  of  this  Asso- 
ciation, they  say  : — 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  163 

"  Men  of  liigh  standing,  in  every  walk  of  life,  of  every 
section  of  the  country,  and  of  every  shade  of  political 
sentiment  and  religious  belief,  have  concurred  in  the 
measure." 

In  their  appeal,  they  most  earnestly  request  every 
lover  of  his  country  to  join  in  forming  auxiliary  as- 
sociations, to  circulate  documents,  attend  conven- 
tions, sign  the  memorial  to  Congress,  etc.,  etc. 

In  their  plea  for  an  amended  Constitution,  they 
ask  the  people  to — 

"  Consider  that  God  is  not  once  named  in  our  national 
Constitution.  There  is  nothing  in  it  which  requires  an 
'oath  of  God,'  as  the  Bible  styles  it  (which,  after  all,  is 
the  great  bond  both  of  loyalty  in  the  citizen  and  of  fidel- 
ity in  the  magistrate), — nothing  which  requires  the  ob- 
servance of  the  day  of  rest  and  of  worship,  or  which  re- 
spects its  sanctity.  If  we  do  not  have  the  mails  carried 
and  the  post-offices  open  on  Sunday,  it  is  because  we 
have  a  Postmaster-General  who  respects  the  day.  If 
our  Supreme  Courts  are  not  held,  and  if  Congress  does 
not  sit  on  that  day,  it  is  custom,  and  not  law,  that  makes 
it  so.  Nothijig  in  the  Constitution  gives  Sunday  quiet 
to  the  custom-house,  the  navy  yard,  the  barracks,  or  cny 
of  the  departments  of  government. 

"Consider  that  they  fairly  express  the  mind  of  the 
great  body  of  the  American  people.  This  is  a  Christian 
people.  These  amendments  agree  with  the  faith,  the 
f  ^elmgs,  and  the  forms  of  every  Christian  church  or  sect. 
The  Catholic  and  the  Protestant,  the  Unitarian  and  the 
Trinitarian,  profess  and  approve  all  that  is  here  pro- 
posed.    Why  should  their  wishes  not  become  law  1  Why 


164  THE  UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

should  not  tlie  Constitution  be  made  to  suit  and  to 
represent  a  constituency  so  overwhelmingly  in  the  ma- 
jority^    .... 

"■  This  great  majority  are  becoming  daily  more  conscious 
not  only  of  their  rights,  but  of  their  power.  Their  num- 
ber grows,  and  theii'  column  becomes  more  solid.  They 
have  quietly,  steadily,  opposed  infidelity,  until  it  has  at 
least  become  politically  unpopular.  They  have  asserted 
the  rights  of  man  and  the  rights  of  the  government,  un- 
til the  nation's  faith  has  become  measurably  fixed  and 
declared  on  these  points.  And  now  that  the  close  of  the 
war  gives  us  occasion  to  amend  our  Constitution,  that  it 
may  clearly  and  fully  represent  the  mind  of  the  people 
on  these  points,  they  feel  that  it  should  also  be  so 
amended  as  to  recognize  the  rights  of  God  in  man  and  in 
government.  Is  it  anything  but  due  to  their  long  pa- 
tience that  they  be  at  length  allowed  to  speak  out  the 
great  facts  and  principles  whicli  give  to  all  government 
its  dignity,  stability,  and  beneficence  *? " 

Thus  for  several  years  a  movement  has  been  on 
foot,  daily  growing  in  extent,  importance,  and  power, 
to  fulfill  that  portion  of  the  prophecy  of  Rev.  13: 11- 
17  which  first  calls  forth  the  dissent  of  the  objector, 
and  which  appears  from  every  point  of  view  the 
most  improbable  of  all  the  specifications ;  namely, 
the  erection  of  the  image  to  the  beast  and  the  en- 
forcing of  the  mark.  Beyond  this,  nothing  remains 
but  the  sharp  conflict  of  the  people  of  God  with  this 
earthly  power,  and  the  eternal  triumph  of  the  over- 
comer. 

An  Association,  even  now  national  in  its  char- 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE    END.  165 

acter,  as  already  noticed,  and  endeavoring,  as  is  ap- 
propriate for  those  who  have  such  objects  in  view, 
to  secure  their  purposes  under  the  sanction  of  the 
highest  authority  of  the  land,  the  national  Constitu- 
tion, already  has  this  matter  in  hand.  In  the  in- 
terest of  this  Association  there  is  published,  in  Phila- 
delphia, a  weekly  paper  called  the  Christian  States- 
man, in  advocacy  of  this  movement.  Every  issue 
of  that  paper  goes  forth  filled  with  arguments  and 
appeals  from  some  of  the  ablest  pens  in  our  land,  in 
favor  of  the  desired  Constitutional  Amendment. 
These  are  the  very  methods  by  which,  in  a  country 
like  ours,  great  revolutions  are  accomplished ;  and  no 
movement  has  ever  arisen  so  suddenly  as  this  to  so 
high  a  position  in  public  esteem  with  certain  classes, 
and  taken  so  strong  a  hold  upon  their  hearts. 

Says  Mr.  G.  A.  Townsend  (New  World  and  Old, 
p.  212):— 

"  Church  and  State  has  several  times  crept  into  Amer- 
ican politics,  as  in  the  contentions  over  the  Bible  in  the 
public  schools,  the  anti-Catholic  party  of  1844,  etc.  Our 
people  have  been  wise  enough  heretofore  to  respect  the 
clergy  in  all  religious  questions,  and  to  entertain  a  whole- 
some lealousy  of  them  in  politics.  The  latest  politico- 
theological  move'iiient  [italics  ours]  is  to  insert  the  name 
of  the  Deity  in  the  Constitution." 

The  present  movements  of  this  National  Associa- 
tion, and  the  progress  it  has  made,  may  be  gathered 
somewhat  from  the  following  sketch  of  its  history, 
and  the  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  some  of  the  con- 
ventions which  have  thus  far  been  held. 


166  THE    UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY.  , 

From  the  Pittsburgh  (Pa.)  Goininercial  of  Feb.  6, 
1874,  we  take  the  following: — 

'^  The  present  movement  to  secure  the  religious  amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  originated  at  Xenia,  Ohio,  in 
February,  1863,  in  a  convention  composed  of  eleven  dif- 
ferent religious  denominations,  who  assembled  for  prayer 
and  conference,  not  in  regard  to  the  amendment  of  the 
Constitution,  but  the  state  of  religion.  Meetings  (small 
m  numbers)  were  held  shortly  after  in  Pittsburg  and 
elsewliere.  At  first  the  association  was  called  a  '  Relig- 
ious Council;'  now  it  is  known  as  the  'ISTational  Asso- 
ciation to  Secure  the  Religious  Amendment  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,'  and  is  becoming  more 
popular,  and  increasing  largely  in  numbers. 

"  The  first  National  Convention  of  the  Association  was 
held  in  the  First  United  Presbyterian  Church,  Alle- 
gheny, Pa.,  Jan.  27,  1864,  at  which  a  large  delegation  was 
appointed  to  present  the  matter  to  the  consideration  of 
Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States. 
An  adjourned  meeting  was  held  in  the  Eighth  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia,  on  the  7th  and 
8th  of  July  of  tlie  same  year;  and  another  in  the  same 
city,  in  the  West  Arch  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  jSTov. 
29,  1864. 

"Conventions  were  held  in  New  York  in  1868,  in 
Columbus,  Ohio,  February,  1869,  and  in  Monmouth,  111., 
April,  1S71. 

"National  conventions  were  ht^ld  in  Pittsburg,  1870; 
Philadelphia,  1871;  Cincinnati,  1872;  and  New  York, 
1873.  Tlie  National  Convention  which  meets  this  aft- 
ernoon [Feb.  4,  1874]  in  Library  Hall  [in  Pittsburg, 
Pa.],  is,  we  believe,  the  fifth  in  order." 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  167 

From  the  report  of  the  executive  committee  at  the 
Cincinnati  Convention,  Jan.  31,  1872,  it  appeared 
that  ten  thousand  copies  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  had  been  gratuitously  dis- 
tributed, and  a  general  secretary  had  been  ap- 
pointed. Nearly  $1,800  was  raised  at  this  Conven- 
tion. 

The  business  committee  recommended  that  the 
delegates  to  this  Convention  hold  meetings  in  their 
respective  localities  to  ratify  the  resolutions  adopted 
at  Cincinnati;  that  twenty  thousand  copies  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  Convention  be  published  in  tract 
form;  and  that  the  friends  of  the  Association  be 
urged  to  form  auxiliary  associations.  All  these 
recommendations  were  adopted. 

Among  the  resolutions  passed  were  the  follow- 
ing:— 

^^  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  United 
States,  as  a  nation  settled  by  Christians, — a  nation  with 
Christian  laws  and  usages,  and  with  Christianity  as  its 
greatest  social  force,  —  to  acknowledge  itself  in  its 
written  Constitution  to  be  a  Christian  nation. 

^^  Resolved,  That  the  proposed  religious  amendment, 
so  far  from  tending  to  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  is 
directly  opposed  to  such  union,  inasmuch  as  it  recognizes 
the  nation's  own  relations  to  God,  and  insists  that  the 
nation  should  acknowledge  these  relations  for  itself,  and 
not  through  tho  medium  of  any  clmrcli  establishment." 

Of  the  fifth  annual  Convention  at  Pittsburgh,  Feb. 
4,  1874,  Eld.  J.  H.  Waggoner,  who  went  as  a  cor- 


168  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

respondent  from  the  S.  D.  Adventists,  says,  in  the 
Advent  Revieiu  of  Feb.  17,  1874: — 

"  This  was  a  meeting  of  delegates,  but  was  largely  at- 
tended. The  number  of  delegates  holding  certificates 
was  641;  non-certified,  432;  total,  1,073,  representing  18 
States.  Petitions  to  Congress,  partially  returned,  as  I 
understood,  footed  up  over  54,000  names. 

"  It  has  been  strongly  impressed  upon  my  mind  that 
we  have  underestimated,  rather  than  overestimated, 
the  rapid  growth  and  power  of  this  movement.  Those 
who  think  we  have  been  deluded  in  confidently  looking 
for  a  gi-eat  change  in  the  nature  and  policy  of  our  gov- 
ernment, could  but  be  convinced  that  we  are  right  in 
this  if  they  would  attend  such  a  meeting  as  this,  or  by 
other  means  become  acquainted  with  what  is  actually 
taking  place  in  this  respect.  The  reason  assigned  for 
calling  a  delegated  convention  is  that  no  place  could  be 
found  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  mass-meeting  of 
the  friends  of  the  cause.  But  it  is  proposed  to  hold 
mass-meetings  in  the  several  States,  and  have  a  general 
grand  rally  in  187G,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  our  in- 
dependence 

"  The  animus  of  this  meeting  cannot  be  unaerstood 
nor  appreciated  by  any  one  who  did  not  attend  it.  It 
was  a  large  gathering  of  delegates  and  others,  and  for 
enthusiasm  and  unanimity  is  rarely  equaled.  This  feat- 
ure can  be  but  feebly  described  in  any  published  report; 
and  I  notice  that  some  of  the  most  significant  and  stir- 
ring expressions  are  left  out  of  the  most  complete  reports 
of  the  speeches  yet  given. 

<'  The  officers  of  the  Association  for  the  coming  year 
arc,  President,  Hon.  Felix  R.  Brunot,  Pittsburgh,  with 


THE   BEGINNING    OF   THE   END.  169 

99  Yice-Presidents,  among  whom  are  4  governors,  5 
State  superintendents  of  public  instruction,  9  bishops,  15 
judges  of  higher  courts,  and  41  college  presidents  and 
professors,  and  the  others  are  all  eminent  men  ;  Gen- 
eral Secretary,  Rev.  D.  McAllister,  N.  Y. ;  Correspond- 
ing Secretaiy,  Rev.  T.  P.  Stevenson,  Philadelphia." 

In  his  opening  address,  the  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Association,  and  chairman  of  this  fifth  Con- 
vention, Hon.  Felix  R.  Brunot,  said  that  their  "cause 
had  made  the  progress  of  twenty  years  in  live;"  and 
the  general  secretary,  D.  McAllister,  said  of  the  past 
year  that  it  had  "  numbered  a  larger  array  of  acces- 
sions to  our  ranks  than  any  two,  or  three,  or  perhaps 
five,  preceding  years." 

Instead  of  a  large  national  convention  in  1875, 
four  conventions,  more  local  in  their  nature,  were 
held  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  as  follows: — 

One  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  16, 
1874;  one  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Jan.  27  and  28,  1875; 
one  for  Kansas  and  adjacent  States,  Feb.  10  and  11 ; 
and  one  for  Ohio  and  adjoining  States,  early  in 
March. 

Of  the  meeting  in  St.  Louis,  the  Oliristian  States- 
man of  Februar}^  1875,  said: — 

"  The  Convention  of  citizens  of  Illinois,  Iowa,  Mis- 
souri, and  neighboring  States,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  on 
the  27th  and  28th  of  last  month,  was  a  triumphant  suc- 
cess. In  a  city  where  there  was  but  a  small  constituency 
committed  in  advance  to  the  support  of  the  proposed 
amendment,  public  attention  has  been  earnestly  drawn 


170  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

to  the  movement,  a  large  audience  was  called  out  at  all 
the  sessions  of  the  Convention,  and  full  reports  of  the 
able  addresses  delivered  have  been  published  in  the  city- 
papers.  By  special  arrangement,  the  St.  Louis  Glohe 
gave  a  full  report,  like  that  of  the  Pittsburgh  Commer- 
cial or  the  Glohe  of  Boston,  but  the  other  papers  also 
contained  full  and  respectful  accounts  of  the  proceedings. 
Fully  one  thousand  people  were  present  at  the  opening 
session,  and  at  least  three  hundred  at  the  day  sessions  on 
Thursday.  Three  hundred  and  ninety-four  names  were 
enrolled  as  members  of  the  Convention.  The  address  of 
J.  C.  Wells,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  from  Chillicothe,  Illinois, 
was  marked  by  the  same  vigor  of  argument  and  fervent 
Christian  spirit  which  lend  so  much  power  and  attract- 
iveness to  his  able  little  book  entitled,  '  Our  National 
Obligation.'  Mr.  Wells  was  also  chosen  president  of  the 
Convention.  The  friends  in  St.  Louis  and  vicinity  are 
heartily  to  be  congratulated  on  this  result. 

"  The  closing  resolution  ado})ted  at  the  Convention 
reads  :— 

^'  ^  Resolved,  That,  recognizing  the  importance  of  this 
subject,  we  pledge  ourselves  to  present  and  advocate  it 
until  the  nation  shall  declare  its  Christian  character,  as 
it  has,  with  one  consent,  already  asserted  its  freedom  in 
the  charter  of  our  rights  and  liberties.'  " 

Nov.  9,  1875,  a  special  meeting  of  the  National 
Association  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  at  which 
meeting  the  Association  took  steps,  which  have  since 
been  carried  out,  to  become  incorporated  in  law,  un- 
der the  name  of  the  "  National  Reform  Association." 
The  Christian  Statesman  of  Nov.  20,  1875,  con- 
tained the  following  notice  of  this  meeting: — 


THE   BEGINNING    OF    THE    END.  171 

"  Tlie  evening  session  was  well  attended,  and  was  al- 
together the  most  encouraging  meeting  in  behalf  of  the 
cause  held  in  this  city  for  many  years." 

The  subsequent  action  of  the  executive  committee 
is  reported  as  follows: — 

"  The  executive  committee  has  since  taken  steps  to  ob- 
tain a  charter  of  incorporation  for  the  Society,  and  to  se- 
cure an  office  which  shall  be  a  recognized  head-quarters 
for  its  operations  and  depository  of  its  publications,  es- 
pecially during  the  centennial  year." 

An  important  meeting  was  held  in  Philadelphia 
at  the  time  of  the  Centennial  Exposition,  and  meet- 
ings have  been  held  each  year  since,  in  all  parts  of 
the  country. 

Th<3  Association  has  at  the  present  time  the  fol- 
lowing board  of  officers:  A  president,  corresponding 
secretary,  financial  secretary,  recording  secretary, 
treasurer,  four  district  secretaries,  and  fifty-three 
vice-presidents.  Among  these,  besides  the  president, 
Hon.  Felix  R.  Brunot,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  are  seven 
Reverends,  twenty-eight  D.  D.'s  (sixteen  of  these 
are  presidents  of,  or  professors  in,  colleges  and  other 
institutions  of  learning,  and  most  of  the  others  are 
bishops  and  presiding  elders),  nine  LL.  D.'s,  four 
justices  of  supreme  courts,  two  editors,  two  gen- 
erals, etc. 

Whatever  influence  great  names  can  impart  to 
any  cause  is  certainly  secured  in  favor  of  this.  Mr. 
F.  E.  Abbott,  editor  of  the  Index,  published  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  who  was  present  at  the  Cincinnati  Cou- 


172  THE   UNITED   STATES   IX   PROPHECY. 

vention,  and  presented  a  protest  against  its  aims  and 
efforts,  thus  speaks  of  those  who  stand  at  the  head 
of  this  movement: — 

"  We  found  them  to  be  so  thoroughly  sincere  and  ear- 
nest in  their  purpose,  that  they  did  not  fear  the  effect  of 
a  decided  but  temperate  protest.  This  fact  speaks  vol- 
umes in  their  praise  as  men  of  character  and  convictions. 
We  saw  no  indication  of  the  artful  management  which 
characterizes  most  conventions.  The  leading  men,  Rev. 
D.  McAllister,  Rev.  A.  M.  Milligan,  Prof  Sloane,  Prof 
Stoddard,  Prof  Wright,  Rev.  T.  P.  Stevenson,  impressed 
us  as  able,  clear-headed,  and  thoroughly  honest  men;  and 
we  could  not  but  conceive  a  great  respect  for  their  mo- 
tives and  their  intentions.  It  is  such  qualities  as  these 
in  the  leaders  of  the  movement  that  give  it  its  most  for- 
midable character.  They  have  definite  and  consistent 
ideas;  they  perceive  the  logical  connection  of  these  ideas, 
and  advocate  them  in  a  very  cogent  and  powerful  man- 
ner; and  they  propose  to  push  them  with  determination 
and  zeal.  Concede  their  premises,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  their  conclusions;  and  since  these  premises  are 
axiomatic  truths  with  the  great  majority  of  Protestant 
Christians,  the  effect  of  the  vigorous  campaign  on  which 
they  are  entering  cannot  be  small  or  despicable.  The 
very  respect  with  which  we  were  compelled  to  regard 
them  only  increases  our  sense  of  the  evils  which  lie  ger- 
minant  in  their  doctrines;  and  we  came  home  with  the 
conviction  that  religious  liberty  in  America  must  do  bat- 
tle for  its  very  existence  hereafter.  The  movement  in 
which  these  men  are  engaged  has  too  many  elements  of 
strength  to  be  contemned  by  any  far-seeing  liberal. 
Blindness  or  sluggishness  to-day  means  slavery  to-mor- 


THE  BEGINNING  OP   THE  END.  173 

row.  Radicalism  must  pass  now  from  thought  to  action, 
or  it  will  deserve  the  oppression  that  lies  in  wait  to  over- 
whelm it." 

To  show  the  strong  convictions  of  many  minds 
that  the  conflict  here  indicated  is  inevitable,  we 
present  some  further  extracts  from  the  Index.  In 
its  issue  of  Feb.  12,  1874,  it  says: — 

"  Yet  in  this  one  point  the  Christianizers  show  an  un- 
erring instinct.  The  great  battle  between  the  ideas  of 
the  State  and  the  ideas  of  the  Church  will  indeed  be 
fought  out  in  the  organic  law  of  the  nation.  The  long 
and  bitter  conflict  of  chattel-slavery  with  free  industry 
began  in  the  world  of  ideas,  passed  to  the  arena  of  poli- 
tics, burst  into  the  hell  of  war,  and  expired  in  the  peace- 
ful suffrages  by  which  Freedom  was  enthroned  in  the 
Constitution.  The  old  story  will  be  repeated;  for  it  is 
the  same  old  conflict  in  a  new  guise,  though  we  hope,  and 
would  fain  believe,  that  the  dreaded  possibility  of  another 
civil  war  is  in  fact  an  impossibility.  But  that  the  agi- 
tation now  begun  can  find  no  end  until  either  Christian- 
ity or  Freedom  shall  have  molded  the  Constitution 
wholly  into  its  own  likeness,  is  one  of  the  fatalities  to  be 
read  in  the  very  nature  of  the  conflicting  princi])les.  The 
battle  of  the  amendments  is  at  hand.  A  thousand 
minor  issues  hide  it  from  sight;  but  none  the  less  it  ap- 
proaches year  by  year,  month  by  month,  day  by  day. 
Cowardice  to  the  rear  !   Courage  to  the  front!" 

The  sentiment  here  expressed,  that  "the  agitation 
now  begun  can  find  no  end  until  either  Christianity 
or  Freedom  [by  which  the  Index  means  infidelity] 
shall  have  molded  the  Constitution  wholly  into  its 


174  THE   UNITED  STATES   IK  PROPHECY. 

own  likeness/'  is  becoming  the  settled  conviction  of 
many  minds.  It  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  the  re- 
sult. Infidel,  the  Constitution  can  never  become ; 
hence  it  will  become  wholly  the  instrument  of  that 
type  of  Christianity  which  the  Amendmentists  are 
now  seeking. 

Again  the  Index  says: — 

"  The  central  ideas  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Republic 
are  locked  in  deadly  combat — none  the  less  so,  because 
the  battle-ground  to-day  is  the  invisible  field  of  thought. 
To-morrow  the  struggle  will  be  in  the  arena  of  politics, 
and  then  no  eye  Avill  be  so  blind  as  not  to  see  it." 

At  the  Pittsburg  Convention,  in  1874, — 

"  Dr.  Kietfer  said  that  this  movement  was  more  po- 
litical than  ecclesiastical,  appealing  to  the  patriotism  of 
all  classes  alike,  and  should  be  accepted  by  all.  Dr. 
Hodge  said  it  was  in  no  sense  sectarian,  and  the  ends  it 
sought  could  be  accepted  by  one  denomination  as  well  as 
by  another, — by  the  Catholic  as  well  as  by  the  Protest- 
ant. He  said  it  was  destined  to  unite  all  classes.  And 
their  work  was  all  in  this  direction." 

The  following,  also  from  the  Index,  we  copy  from 
the  Christian  Statesman  of  Jan.  2,  1875.  We  do 
not  indorse  its  statements  as  applied  to  real  Chris- 
tianity, but  it  probably  expresses  the  view  which 
will  be  taken  of  this  matter  by  the  churches  gener- 
ally, and  so  may  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  the 
course  that  will  be  pursued  by  them.  While  the 
political   religionist  can  see  in   present   movements 


THi!  iBEGINNING  OF   THE   END.  175 

the  prelude  of  a  mighty  revolution,  we  believe  it  to 
be  the  same  that  students  of  prophecy  have  for  years 
been  led  by  the  word  of  God  to  expect.  The  Index 
says : — 

"Nothing  could  be  more  apparent  to  one  who  intelli- 
gently followed  the  argument  from  its  own  premises, 
than  that  this  movement  expresses  at  once  the  moral 
and  the  political  necessities  of  Christianity  in  this  coun- 
try. It  is  not  a  question  of  words,  but  rather  a  ques- 
tion of  the  vital  interests  of  great  institutions.  Chris- 
tianity must  either  relinquish  its  present  hold  on  the 
government, — its  Sunday  laws,  its  blasphemy  laws,  its 
thanksgivings  and  fasts,  its  chaplaincies,  its  Bible  in 
schools,  etc., — or  else  it  must  secure  the  necessary  con- 
dition of  retainmg  all  these  things  by  inserting  some 
guarantee  of  their  perpetuity  in  the  national  Constitu- 
tion. Looking  simply  at  the  small  present  dimensions 
of  the  movement, — at  the  fewness  of  its  devoted  workers, 
the  paucity  of  attendants  at  the  late  Convention,  and 
the  indifference  of  the  public  at  large, — one  is  justified 
in  dismissing  it  from  consideration  as  of  no  immediate  im- 
portance. But  whoever  is  qualified  to  detect  great 
movements  in  their  germs,  and  to  perceive  that  instituted 
Christianity  is  in  vast  peril  from  the  constant  inroads  of 
rapidly  spreading  disbelief  of  dogmatic  Christianity, — 
whoever  is  able  to  discern  the  certainty  that  the  claims 
of  Christianity  to  mold  political  action  in  its  own  inter- 
est must  sooner  or  later  be  submitted  for  adjudication 
to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  by  which  they  are  not 
even  verbally  recognized, — will  not  fall  into  the  super- 
ficiality of  inferring  the  future  fortunes  of  this  move- 
ment, either  from  the  mediaeval  character  of  its  preten- 


176  THE   UNITED    STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 


sions  or  the  j)resent  insignificance  of  its  success.  It  may 
jDOSsibly  be  that  the  Christian  churches  do  not  really 
care  for  their  own  existence,  and  are  prepared  to  surren- 
der it  without  a  struggle,  but  we  do  not  so  read  history. 
So  soon  as  they  come  to  comprehend  fully  the  fact  that 
their  legal  '  Sabbath,'  their  Bible  in  schools,  and  all  their 
present  legal  privileges,  must  one  by  one  slip  away  inev- 
itably from  theii'  grasp,  unless  they  defend  them  in  the 
only  possible  way  by  grounding  them  on  Constitutional 
guarantees,  it  seems  to  us  an  irresistible  conclusion  from 
history  and  experience  that  they  will  arouse  themselves 
to  protect  these  possessions  as  infinitely  important.  If 
they  do  not,  they  have  achieved  a  degree  of  moral  rot- 
tenness, cowardice,  and  hypocrisy  which  we  are  very 
slow  to  attribute  to  them.  These  champions  of  a  Chris- 
tianized Constitution  are  to-day  the  political  brain  of 
the  Christian  church.  Conceding  their  premises,  which 
are  simply  those  of  the  universal  Evangelical  commun- 
ion, it  is  impossible  to  deny  their  conclusions.  It  is 
these  premises  that  we  dispute,  not  the  logicalness  of 
the  conclusions  themselves  ;  and  although  w^e  hold  that 
the  same  premises,  if  further  carried  out,  must  lead  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  position  expressed  by  the  Vatican 
decrees,  we  none  the  less  admit  the  necessity  of  travel- 
ing that  road  from  the  starting-point,  if  it  is  once  fairly 
entered  upon.  Hence  we  are  as  strongly  convinced  as 
ever  that  the  Christian-Amendment  movement  contains 
the  germ  of  a  demand  that  must  sooner  or  later  be  heard 
asserted  with  i)erilous  emphasis,  by  the  body  of  orthodox 
Christian  churches." 

The  character  of  this  movement  is  thus  described 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE    END.  177 

by  one  who  was  an  eye-witness  at  the  Pittsburgh 
Convention  : — 

"They  show  determination  to  make  the  movement 
popular,  and  to  reach  the  feehngs  of  the  people  by  every 
means.  In  their  speeches,  they  alternate  with  the  most 
impassioned  earnestness  and  gravest  argument  the  sharp- 
est wit,  and  even  laughable  puns  and  incidents.  Staid 
'  Reverends  '  clap  their  hands  in  applause  as  heartily  as 
I  ever  saw  done  in  any  kind  of  gathering,  and  Old- 
School  Presbyterian  Doctors  of  Divinity,  who  have  gen- 
erally been  noted  for  clerical  dignity,  take  the  greatest 
delight  in  raising  the  cheers  of  the  crowd  by  their  keen 
thrusts  and  witticisms.  The  Commercial  was  publicly 
recommended  as  giving  the  official  report,  and  of  the 
speech  of  the  President  of  Washington  and  Jefferson 
College,  it  said,  '  Dr.  Hay's  address  was  received  \^'ith 
frequent  marks  of  approbation,  and  his  witty  points  drew 
forth  shouts  of  laughter.'  Judging  from  what  I  have 
seen,  the  standard  of  piety  is  not  to  be  elevated  by  this 
work."— J:  H.    W.,  in  Review  of  Feb.  17,  1874. 

Between  the  professions  of  this  Association,  and 
the  objects  which  they  are  openly  laboring  to  ob- 
tain, there  is  an  utter  inconsistency,  as  the  follow- 
ing considerations  will  show.  In  the  Review  of 
March  24,  1874,  the  writer  last  quoted  says  : — 

"  We  are  sometimes  perplexed  to  account  for  the  sin- 
gular operations  of  the  human  mind.  When  we  see  men 
of  good  natural  ability  and  of  superior  privileges  of 
mental  and  moral  culture,  persistently  clinging  to  the 
weaker  side  in  argument,  and  seeming  able  to  discover 

13 


178  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

light  only  on  the  dai-kest  side  of  a  proposition,  or  en- 
deavoring to  sustain  themselves  by  taking  contradictory 
positions,  our  charity  is  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  give  them 
credit  for  the  ability  they  seem  to  possess  and  for  the 
integrity  of  purpose  they  claim.  Seldom  have  our  re- 
flections been  more  forciljly  turned  in  this  direction  than 
in  viewing  the  course  pursued  by  the  advocates  of  the 
Keligious  Amendment.  A  late  number  of  the  Chris- 
tian Statesman,  speaking  of  the  Seventh-day  Adventists, 
says  : —  . 

'  "  '  From  the  beginning  of  the  National  Reform  Movement, 
they  have  regarded  it  as  the  first  step  toward  the  persecution 
which  they,  as  keepers  of  the  seventh  day,  will  endure,  when 
our  Sabbath  laws  are  revived  and  enforced.  One  can  but 
smile  at  their  apprehensions  of  the  success  of  a  movement 
which  Avould  not  harm  a  hair  of  their  heads,  but  their  fears 
are  sincere  enough,  for  all  that.'" 

'  Pursuing  the  line  of  argument  into  a  considera- 
tion of  the  question  whether  there  is  anything  in  the 
professions  of  the  Amendment  party  calculated  to 
change  our  opinion  in  this  respect,  he  continues : — 

'-''If  a  profession  of  good  motives  and  of  a  desire  to 
steer  clear  of  a  union  of  Church  and  State  on  the  part  of 
the  Amendment  party  could  give  us  assurance  on  tliis 
point,  then  might  we  cease  to  notice  this  subject.  On 
this  point  they  are  very  explicit.  A  few  quotations  will 
suffice  to  present  their  claims.  Said  Hon.  Mr.  Patter- 
son, in  the  Pittsburgh  Convention  : — 

"  'Be  not  misled  by  the  assertion  that  the  movement  agi- 
tated by  this  Convention  tends  to  religious  intolerance,  to 
wedding  Church  and  State.  No  such  tendency  exists.  On 
the  contrary,  this  movement  claims  nothing  but  to  secure  in 
the  preamble  of  our  national  Constitution  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  supremacy  of  God  and  the  Christian  character 


THE  BEGINNtJTG   OF   THE   END.  179 

of  our  Diilion,  such  as  is  now  geuerally  and  authoritatively 
conceded  to  be  the  law  of  our  land.' 

'  This,  surely,  is  lamb-like  enough  to  throw  us  all  off 
our  guard.  The  following  remarks  by  President  Brunot 
(pronounced  Bruno)  on  taking  the  chair  are  equally  in- 
nocent to  view  : — 

'"The  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  declares  that  ''no 
religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States,"  and  the  first 
amendment  in  the  Constitution  provides  that  "Congress 
shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof."  We  have  not  pro- 
posed to  change  these.  We  deem  them  essential,  in  con- 
nection with  the  amendment  w^e  ask,  to  the  preservation  of 
religious  liberty,  and  with  it,  an  effective  guard  against  a 
union  of  Church  and  State.' 

"  And  again  :  '  The  attempt  to  destroy  the  inalienable 
right  of  freedom  of  conscience  in  religion  in  this,  our  fa- 
vored land,  would  meet  mth  its  very  first  organized  re- 
sistance from  this  Association.' 

''And  Dr.  Kerr  said  : — 

"We  want  no  union  of  Church  and  State.  Let  that 
question  be  raised  in  this  country,  and  there  is  no  element 
of  the  opposition  that  would  rise  against  it  that  would  be 
more  decided  and  determined  than  that  represented  in  this 
Convention.  We  wish  no  restraint  of  the  rightful  liberties 
of  any  man.' 

"These  utterances  are  pleasant  to  read,  and  doubtless 
they,  and  others  like  them,  have  had  much  to  do  in  en- 
listing so  strong  an  interest  in  favor  of  the  amendment. 
A]id  were  these  sayings,  or  those  of  like  nature,  all  that 
they  had  put  forth,  we  should  feel  constrained  to  regard 
the  men  and  their  work  in  a  light  somewhat  different 
from  that  in  Avliich  we  now  view  them. 

"We  come  now  to  examine  another  class  of  expres* 


IgO     '      THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PHOPHECY. 


sions,  of  a  positive  nature.  What  we  have  quoted  is 
negative, — a  disclaimer,  a  relation  of  what  they  do  not 
wish  to  do.  Very  explicitly  have  they  stated  theii*  de- 
sires and  intentions.  True,  we  cannot  reconcile  what 
they  have  said  under  these  two  heads,  and  it  is  this 
which  so  perplexes  us  in  regard  to  their  professions.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  they  %vill  sometime  attempt  to  show 
that  their  statements  may  be  harmonized,  or  else  confine 
their  avowals  to  one  side  of  the  question,  that  all  may 
understand,  without  study  or  doubt,  just  the  position 
they  occupy. 

•■  "Dr.  Stevenson,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Association,  and  editor  of  the  Statesman,  in  the 
opening  address  at  the  Convention,  said  : — 

"'Through  the  immense  largesses  it  receives  from  cor- 
rupt politicians,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is,  practically, 
the  established  church  of  the  city  of  New  York.  These  fa- 
vors are  granted  under  the  guise  of  a  seeming  friendliness 
to  religion.  We  projDOse  to  put  the  substance  for  the 
shadow, — to  drive  out  the  counterfeit  by  the  completer  sub- 
stitution of  the  true.' 

"These  words  are  somewhat  ambiguous,  bat  none  the 
less  important,  on  this  subject ;  for,  taken  in  any  possi- 
ble way,  they  are  full  of  meaning.  It  may  be  a  question 
whether  this  'seeming  friendliness  to  religion'  is  the 
shadow,  and  real  friendliness  to  religion  in  politics  is  the 
substance,  or  whether  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  coun- 
terfeit and  Protestantism  the  true;  but  in  either  case 
the  establishment  of  the  church,  or  a  church,  or  churches, 
more  completely  than  at  present  established,  though  they 
are  practically  existing  now,  is  the  object  aimed  at  in 
this  paragi-aph.  The  latter  form,  the  establishment  of 
the  churches,  appears  to  be  the  object ;  for  in  the  next 
sentence  he  says  : —    ' 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE    END.  181 

"'What  we  propose  is  nothing  of  a  sectarian  character. 
It  will  give  no  branch  of  American  Christians  any  advantage 
over  any  other.' 

"A  remark  made  by  Prof.  Blanchard  is  a  comple- 
ment to  the  above.  He  has  given  us  a  definition  of 
'union  of  Church  and  State'  as  opposed  by  them.  Thus 
he  said  : — 

"  'But  union  of  Church  and  State  is  the  selection  by  the 
nation  of  one  church,  the  endowment  of  such  a  church,  the 
appointment  of  its  officers,  and  the  oversight  of  its  doc- 
trines. For  such  a  union  none  of  us  plead.  To  such  a 
union  we  are  all  of  us  opposed.'  -- 

"In  reading  this,  we  are  reminded  of  the  turn  taken 
by  the  spiritualists,  when  they  deny  that  they  are  op- 
posed to  marriage ;  they  explain  by  defining  marriage  to 
be  a  union  of  tw^o  persons  not  to  be  regulated  nor 
guarded  by  civil  law,  which  exists  only  as  long  as  the 
parties  are  agreed  thereto,  requiring  no  law  to  effect  a 
divoi-ce  !  To  such  marriage  the  most  lawless  libertine 
would  not  object.  We  are  sorry  that  the  respectable 
advocates  of  the  amendment  take  a  position  so  nearly 
parallel  to  the  above-cited  position  of  spiritualists.  They 
give  a  definition  of  union  of  Church  and  State  such 
as  no  one  expects  nor  fears, — 3iich,  in  fact,  as  is  not  pos- 
sible in  the  existing  state  of  the  churches, — and  then 
loudly  proclaim  that  they  are  opposed  to  union  of  Chiu'ch 
and  State  !  But  to  a  union  of  Church  and  State  in  the 
popular  sense  of  the  phrase, — a  union,  not  of  one  church, 
but  of  all  the  churches  recognized  as  orthodox,  or  evan- 
gelical,— a  union  not  giving  the  State  power  to  elect 
church  officers  nor  to  take  tha  oversight  of  church  doc- 
trines, but  giving  the  churches  the  privilege  of  enforc- 
ing by  civil  law  the  laws,  institutions,  and  usages  of  re- 


182  THE   UNITED   STATES   IX   PROPHECY. 

ligion  according  to  the  faith  of  tli3  churches,  or  to  the 
construction  put  upon  tliose  institutions  and  usages  by 
the  churches, — to  such  a  union,  we  say,  they  are  not 
opposed.  They  are  essentially  and  practically,  despite 
their  professions,  open  advocates  of  union  of  Church  and 
State. 

"President  Brunot  and  others  have  referred  to  the 
first  amendment  to  the  Constitution  as  a  safeguard 
against  establishing  a  national  religion.  Yet  in  the  face 
of  this  reference  he  says  : — 

"'We  propose  "such  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  (or  its  preamble)  as  will  suitably  ac- 
knowledge Almighty  God  as  the  author  of  the  nation's  ex- 
istence and  the  ultimate  source  of  its  authority,  Jesus  Christ 
as  its  Ruler,  and  the  Bible  as  the  supreme  rule  of  its  con- 
duct," and  thus  indicate  that  this  is  a  Christian  nation,  and 
place  all  Christian  laws,  institutions,  and  usages,  on  an  un- 
deniable legal  basis  in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land.'  ^ 

"Now  the  question  arises.  If  all  this  were  accom- 
plished, would  the  Christian  religion  be  established  in 
and  by  this  government  ?  If  it  be  answered  that  it 
would  not,  then  another  question.  Would  individuals  be 
at  liberty  under  the  law  of  the  land  to  disregard  those 
Christian  institutions  and  usages'?  If  not,  if  both  of 
these  questions  be  answered  in  the  negative,  then  what 
would  be  the  existing  state  of  things  1  Could  it  bo  de- 
fined? 

"  This  will  never  do ;  such  talk  is  idle.  To  place 
Christian  usages  on  a  legal  basis  i  i  to  enforce  them  by 
law,  and  to  enforce  them  is  to  '  establish '  them.  When 
they  are  placed  on  'an  und(;nial)lo  l(!gal  basis  in  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land,'  they  arc  fully  established, 
and  to  deny  this  is  only  to  trifle  with  language.     But 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  183 

again,  yoii  cannot  distinguish  between  'all  Christian  laws, 
institutions,  and  usages,'  and  the  Christian  religion.  By 
establishing  them,  you  establish  it,  of  necessity.  To  deny 
this  is  to  manifest  a  lack  of  discrimination  or  of  candor. 
We  speak  with  due  respect,  but  we  have  to  deal  with 
facts  of  the  gre^rtest  magnitude  and  im.portance,  and  which 
affect  us  in  those  things  which  we  hold  most  sacred  and 
dear.  The  advocates  of  this  movement  are  able  men. 
We  hope  they  will  not  ignore  these  points,  but  so  explain 
them  as  to  reconcile  themselves  with  themselves,  if  it 
can  be  done." 

The  New  York  Independent,  in  January,  1875, 
showed  up  the  inconsistency  of  this  movement  in  a 
few  paragraphs  so  pointed  and  pungent  that  we 
quote  them  entire,  as  follows: — 

"  This  being  a  Christian  nation,  we  have  a  right  to 
acknowledge  God  in  the  Constitution;  because,  as  things 
are  now,  this  is  not  a  Christian  nation,  and  needs  such 
recognition  to  make  it  one. 

''  This  having  always  been  a  Christian  nation,  we  have 
a  right  to  keep  it  such;  and  therefore  we  need  this 
amendment,  since  hitherto,  without  it,  we  have  only  been 
a  heathen  nation. 

"  In  other  words,  we  need  to  make  this  a  Christian 
nation,  because  we  are  already  such,  on  the  ground  that 
if  we  do  not  make  it  such,  we  are  not  a  Christian  na- 
tion. 

"  Because  the  poople  are  substantially  all  Christians, 
wo  La\'(;  a  right,  and  have  need,  to  make  the  Constitu- 
tion Christian,  to  check  our  powerful  element  of  unbe- 
lievers. 


184  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

"  We  mean  to  interfere  with  no  man's  rights,  but  only 
to  get  certain  rights,  now  belonging  to  all,  restricted  to 
Christians. 

"  This  religious  amendment  is  to  have  no  practical  ef- 
fect, its  object  being  to  check  infidelity. 

''  It  is  to  interfere  with  no  man's  rights,  but  only  to 
make  the  unbeliever  concede  to  Christians  the  right  to 
rule  in  their  interest,  and  to  give  up  like  claims  for 
J;iimself. 

"It  is  meant  to  have  no  practical  effect,  and  therefore 
will  be  of  great  use  to  us. 

"  We  want  to  recognize  God,  and  Christianity  as  our 
national  duty  to  Deity;  but  intend  to  give  no  effect  to 
such  recognition,  pleasing  God  by  judicially  voting  our- 
selves pious,  and  doing  nothing  more. 

"  We  shall  leave  all  religions  in  equality  before  the 
law,  and  make  Christianity  the  adopted  religion  of  the 
nation. 

"  Christianity,  being  justice,  requires  us  to  put  down 
infidelity  by  taking  advantage  of  our  numbers  to  secure 
rights  which  we  do  not  allow  to  others. 

''Justice  to  Christians  is  one  thing,  and  to  infidels 
another. 

"  We  being  a  Christian  people,  the  Jewish  and  unbe- 
lieving portion  of  our  people  are  not,  of  right,  part  of  the 
people. 

"  And  so,  having  no  rights  which  we,  as  Christians, 
are  bound  to  respect,  we  must  adopt  this  amendment  in 
our  interest. 

"  Passing  this  act  will  not  make  any  to  be  Christians 
wlio  are  not  Christians,  but  it  is  needed  to  make  this  a 
more  Christian  nation, 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   END.  185 

"  The  people  are  not  to  be  made  more  Christian  by  it; 
but,  since  the  nation  cannot  be  Christian  unless  the  peo- 
ple are,  it  is  meant  to  make  the  nation  Christian  Avithout 
aflecting  the  people. 

"  That  is,  the  object  of  this  amendment  is  to  make 
the  nation  Christian  without  making  the  people  Chris- 
tians. 

"  By  putting  God  in  the  Constitution  he  will  be  recog 
nized  by  nobody  else  than  those  who  already  recognize 
him;  and  therefore  we  need  the  amendment  for  a  fuller 
recognition  of  him. 

"  If  we  say  we  believe  in  God  and  Christ  in  the  Con- 
stitution, it  is  true  of  those  believing  in  him  and  a  lie  as 
to  the  rest;  and  as  the  first  class  already  recognize  him, 
we  want  this  amendment  as  a  recognition  by  the  latter 
class,  so  that  our  whole  people  shall  recognize  him. 

"  Whether  we  have  an  acknowledgment  of  God  in  the 
Constitution  or  not,  we  are  a  Christian  nation;  and, 
therefore,  it  is  this  recognition  of  God  that  is  to  make  us 
a  Christian  nation." 

As  to  the  probability  of  the  success  of  this  move- 
ment, there  is  at  present  some  difference  of  opinion. 
While  a  very  few  pass  it  by  with  a  slur  as  a  mere 
temporary  sensation  of  little  or  no  consequence,  it  is 
generally  regarded,  both  by  its  advocates  and  its  op- 
posers,  as  a  work  of  growing  strength  and  impor- 
tance. Petitions  and  remonstrances  are  both  being 
circulated  with  activity,  and  shrewd  observers,  who 
have  watched  the  movement  with  a  jealous  eye,  and 
heretofoi-e  hoped  it  would  amount  to  nothing,  now 
confess  that  it  "  means  business,"     No  movement  of 


186  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

equal  magnitude  of  purpose  has  ever  sprung  up  and 
become  strong,  and  secured  favor  so  rapidly  as  this. 
Indeed,  none  of  equal  magnitude  has  ever  been 
sprung  upon  the  American  mind,  as  this  aims  to  re- 
model the  whole  framework  of  our  government,  and 
give  to  it  a  strong  religious  caste, — a  thing  which  the 
framers  of  our  Constitution  were  careful  to  exclude 
from  it.  They  not  only  ask  that  the  Bible,  and 
God,  and  Christ,  shall  be  recognized  in  the  Consti- 
tution, but  that  it  shall  indicate  this  as  "a  Christian 
nation,  and  place  all  Christian  laws,  institutions,  and 
usages,  in  our  government  on  an  undeniable  legal 
basis  in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  nation." 

Of  course,  appropriate  legislation  will  be  required 
to  carry  such  amendments  into  effect,  and  somebody 
will  have  to  decide  what  are  "  Christian  laws  and 
institutions."  From  what  we  learn  of  such  move- 
ments in  the  past  in  other  countries,  and  of  the  tem- 
per of  the  churches  of  this  country,  and  of  human 
nature  when  it  has  power  suddenly  conferred  upon 
it,  we  look  for  no  good  from  this  movement.  From 
a  lengthy  article  in  the  Lansing  (Michigan)  State 
Republican  in  reference  to  the  Cincinnati  Conven- 
tion, we  take  the  following  extract: — 

"ISIow  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  moral  and 
professedly  Christian  j)epple  in  this  nation  to-day  who  do 
nob  recognize  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, — do  not  recog- 
nize Jesus  Christ  the  SMinc^  as  God.  And  there  are  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  men  and  women  who  do  not  rec- 
ognize tlie  Bible  as  the  revelation  of  God.     The  attempt 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   END.  187 

to  make  any  such  amendment  to  tlie  Constitution  would 
be  regarded  by  a  large  minority,  perhaps  a  majority,  of 
our  nation  as  a  j^alpable  violation  of  liberty  of  conscience. 
Thousands  of  men,  if  called  upon  to  vote  for  such  an 
amendment,  would  hesitate  to  vote  against  God,  although 
they  might  not  believe  that  the  amendment  is  necessary 
or  that  it  is  right;  and  such  men  would  either  vote  af- 
firmatively or  not  at  all.  In  every  case,  such  an  amend- 
ment would  be  likely  to  receive  an  affirmative  vote  which 
would  by  no  means  indicate  the  true  sentiment  of  the 
people.  And  the  same  rule  would  hold  good  in  relation 
to  the  adoption  of  such  an  amendment  by  Congress  or  by 
the  Legislatures  of  three-quarters  of  the  States.  Men 
who  make  politics  a  trade  would  hesitate  to  record  their 
names  against  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment, 
advocated  by  the  leaders  of  the  great  religious  denomina- 
tions of  the  land,  and  indorsed  by  such  men  as  Bishop 
Simpson,  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  Bishop  Eastburn,  President 
Finney,  Prof.  Lewis,  Prof.  Seelye,  Bishoj)  Huntington, 
Bishop  Kerfoot,  Dr.  Patterson,  Dr.  Cuyler,  and  many 
other  divines  who  are  the  representative  men  of  their 
resj)ective  denominations." 

Not  only  the  representative  men  of  the  churches 
are  pledged  to  this  movement,  but  governors,  judges, 
and  many  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  land,  are 
working  for  it.  Who  doubts  the  power  of  the 
"representative  men  of  the  denominations"  to  rally 
the  strength  of  their  denominations  to  sustain  this 
work  at  their  call  ?  Wc  utter  no  prophecy  of  the 
future ;  it  is  not  needed.  Events  transpire  in  these 
days  faster  than  our  minds  are  prepared  to  grasp 


188  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

them.  Let  us  heed  the  admonition  to  ''  watch !  " 
and  with  reliance  upon  God,  prepare  for  "  those 
things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth." 

But  it  may  be  asked  how  the  Sunday  question 
is  to  he  affected  by  the  proposed  Constitutional 
A.mendment.  Answer:  The  object,  or,  to  say  the 
least,  one  object  of  this  amendment,  is  to  put  the 
Sunday  institution  on  a  legal  basis,  and  compel  its 
observance  by  the  arm  of  the  law.  At  the  National 
Convention  held  in  Philadelphia,  Jan.  18  and  19, 
1871,  the  following  resolution  was  among  the  first 
offered  by  the  business  committee  : — 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  view  of  the  controlling  power  of 
the  Constitution  in  shaping  State  as  well  as  national 
policy,  it  is  of  immediate  importance  to  public  morals 
and  to  social  order,  to  secure  such  an  amendment  as 
will  indicate  that  this  is  a  Christian  nation,  and  place  all 
Christian  laws,  institutions,  and  usages  in  our  govern- 
ment on  an  undeniable  legal  basis  in  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  nation,  specially  those  which  secure  a  proper 
oath,  and  which  protect  society  against  blasphemy,  Sab- 
bath-breaking, and  polygamy." 

By  Sabbath-breaking  is  meant  nothing  else  but 
Sunday-breaking.  In  a  convention  of  the  friends 
of  Sunday,  assembled  Nov.  29,  1870,  in  New  Con- 
cord, Ohio,  the  Rev.  James  White  is  reported  to 
have  said:  "The  question  [of  Sunday  observance]  is 
closely  connected  with  the  National  Reform  Move- 
ment ;  for  until  the  government  comes  to  know  God 
and  honor  his  law,  we  need  not  expect  to  restrain 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  189 

Sabbath-breaking  corporations."  Here  again  the 
idea  of  the  legal  enforcement  of  Sunday  observance 
stands  uppermost. 

Once  more:  The  Philadelphia  Press,  of  Dec.  5, 
1870,  stated  that  some  Congressmen,  including  Vice- 
President  Colfax,  arrived  in  Washington  by  Sunday 
trains,  Dec.  4,  on  which  the  Christian  Statesman 
commented  as  follows  (we  give  italics  as  we  find 
them) : — 

"  1.  N'ot  one  of  those  men  who  thus  violated  the  Sab- 
bath is  Jit  to  hold  any  official  2)osition  in  a  Christian 
nation,     *     *     *     * 

"  He  who  violates  the  Sabbath  may  not  steal,  because 
the  judgment  of  society  so  strongly  condemns  theft,  or 
because  he  believes  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy  ;  but 
tempt  him  with  the  prospect  of  concealment  or  the  pros- 
pect of  advantage,  and  there  can  be  no  reason  why  he 
who  robs  God  will  not  rob  his  neighbor  also.  For  this 
reason,  the  Sabbath  law  lies  at  the  foundation  of  mor- 
ality. Its  observance  is  an  acknowledgment  of  the  sov- 
ereign rights  of  God  over  us. 

"  2.  The  sin  of  these  Congressmen  is  a  national  sin, 
because  the  nation  hath  not  said  to  them  in  the  Consti- 
tution, the  supreme  rule  for  our  public  servants,  '  We 
charge  you  to  serve  us  in  accordance  with  the  higher  law 
of  God.'  These  Sabbath-breaking  railroads,  moreover, 
are  corporations  created  by  the  State,  and  amenable  to 
it.  The  State  is  responsible  to  God  for  the  conduct  of 
these  creatures  which  it  calls  into  being.  It  is  bound, 
therefore,  to  restrain  them  from  this  as  from  other 
crimes,  and  any  violation  of  the  Sabbath  by  any  corpo- 


190  THE  triCITED   STATES   IX   PHOPHECY. 

ration,  sliould  work  iiniiiodialo  forfeiture  of  its  charter. 
And  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  which 
all  State  legislation  is  required  to  be  in  harmony,  should 
be  of  such  a  character  as  to  prevent  any  State  from  tol- 
erating such  infractions  of  fundamental  moral  law. 

"  3.  Give  us  in  the  national  Constitution  the  simple 
acknowledgment  of  the  law  of  God  as  the  supreme  law 
of  nations,  and  all  the  results  indicated  in  this  note 
will  ultimately  he  secured.  Let  no  one  say  that  the 
movement  does  not  contemjjlate  sufficiently  practical 
ends." 

From  all  this  we  see  the  important  place  the  Sab- 
bath question  is  to  hold  in  this  movement, — the  im- 
portant place  it  even  now  holds  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  are  urging  it  forward.  Let  the  amend- 
ment called  for  be  granted,  "  and  all  the  results  in- 
dicated in  this  note,"  says  the  writer,  ''will  ulti- 
mately be  secured ; "  that  is,  individuals  and  corpo-' 
rations  will  be  restrained  from  violating  the  Sunday 
observance.  The  acknowledgment  of  God  in  the 
Constitution  may  do  very  well  as  a  banner  under 
which  to  sail ;  but  the  practical  bearing  of  the  move- 
ment relates  to  the  compulsory  observance  of  the 
first  day  of  the  week. 

An  article  in  the  Christian  at  Work  of  April  20, 
1882,  spoke  of  a  proposed  plan  to  induce  railroad 
corporations  and  the  leading  industries  of  the  coun- 
try to  suspend  business  on  Sunday.  The  writer 
thought  the  plan  would  fail,  because  it  did  not  have 
*'  the  force  of  a  penalty,"  and  said: — 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   END.  191 

"  There  is  need  of  the  power  of  government  behind 
the  plan, — the  strength  of  tlie  national  government  in 
support  of  the  rule  ;  for  the  great  business  corporations 
of  the  country  have  risen  above,  and  reach  beyond,  the 
authority  of  a  Commonwealth.  And  not  till  the  people 
have  made  the  Federal  Government  the  escutcheon  of 
the  Sabbath  [Sunday]  may  we  expect  the  rival  indus- 
tries to  honor  that  sacred  day." 

And  while  this  writer  thus  sturdily  called  for  law, 
he  believed  that  if  the  church  "insisted  on  her 
rights  "  as  loudly  as  the  "  infidel  resisted  them,"  they 
could  be  easily  secured. 

Even  now  the  question  is  agitated  why  the  Jew 
should  be  allowed  to  follow  his  business  on  the  first 
day,  after  having  observed  the  seventh.  The  same 
question  is  equally  pertinent  to  all  seventh-day 
keepers.  A  writer  signing  himself  ''American,"  in 
the  Boston  Herald  of  Dec.  14,  1871,  said: — 

"  The  President  in  his  late  message,  in  speaking  of 
the  Mormon  question,  says,  '  They  shall  not  be  permitted 
to  break  the  law  under  the  cloak  of  religion.'  This  un- 
doubtedly meets  the  approval  of  every  American  citizen, 
and  I  wish  to  cite  a  parallel  case,  and  ask,  Why  should 
the  Jews  of  this  country  be  allowed  to  keep  open  their 
stores  on  the  Sabbath,  under  the  cloak  of  their  religion, 
while  I,  or  any  other  true  American,  will  be  arrested 
and  suffer  punishment  for  doing  the  same  thing  1  If  there 
is  a  provision  made  allowing  a  few  to  conduct  business  on 
the  Sabbath,  what  justice  and  equality  can  thei-e  be  in 
any  such  provision,  and  why  should  it  not  be  stopped  at 
once  1 " 


192  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

And  this  question,  we  apprehend,  will  be  very 
summarily  decided,  when  once  the  Constitutional 
Amendment  has  been  secured. 

At  a  Ministerial  Association  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  held  in  Healdsburg,  Cal.,  April 
26-28,  1870,  Rev.  Mr.  Trefren,  of  Napa,  speaking 
of  S.  D.  A.  ministers,  said,  "  I  predict  for  them  a 
short  race.  What  we  want  is  law  in  the  matter." 
Then,  referring  to  the  present  movement  to  secure 
such  a  law,  he  added:  "And  we  will  have  it,  too; 
and  when  we  get  the  power  into  our  hands,  we  will 
show  these  men  what  their  end  will  be." 

In  1876  the  question  was  raised  in  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  "whether  a  Seventh-day  Adventist  could  be 
compelled  to  attend  court  as  a  witness  on  Saturday ; " 
and  Judofe  Blanchard  decided  that  he  could  be,  and 
that  "  a  refusal  would  be  contempt  of  court." 

The  Signs  of  the  Times,  of  Oakland,  Cal.,  in  its 
issue  of  Dec.  22,  1881,  said:— 

"  After  a  sermon  recently  preached  by  an  Oakland  D. 
D.  in  favor  of  enforcing  the  Sunday  law,  some  of  the 
members  of  the  congi-egation  were  heard  giving  utterance 
to  strong  commendations  of  the  sermon  and  of  the  law. 

o 

Said  one,   '  I  am  glad  the  Seventh-day  Adventists  will 
have  to  come  to  time.'  " 

There  are  abundant  indications  that  this  pious 
feeling  largely  prevails  in  many  sections  of  our 
country. 

From  a  work  recently  published  by  the  Presby- 
terian Board   of   PubUcation,    entitled,   "The  Sab- 


THE   BEGlNNma   OF   THE   END.  193 

bath,"  by  Chas.  Elliott,  Professor  of  Biblical  Litera- 
ture and  Exegesis  in  the  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Northwest,  Chicago,  III,  we  take 
this  paragraph : — 

"But  it  may  be  asked,  Would  not  the  Jew  be  denied 
equality  of  rights  by  legislation  protecting  the  Christian 
Sabbath  and  ignoring  the  Jewish  1  The  answer  is,  We 
are  not  a  Jewish,  but  a  Christian  nation ;  therefore  our 
legislation  must  be  conformed  to  the  institutions  and 
spirit  of  Christianity.  This  is  absolutely  necessary  from 
the  nature  of  the  case." 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  import  of  this  lan- 
guage. No  matter  if  the  Jew  does  not  secure  equal 
rights  with  others.  We  are  not  a  Jewish  nation, 
but  a  Christian;  and  all  must  be  made  to  conform 
to  what  the  majority  decide  to  be  Christian  institu- 
tions. This  affects  all  who  observe  the  seventh  day 
as  much  as  it  does  the  Jews;  and  we  apprehend  it 
will  not  be  a  difficult  matter  to  lead  the  masses, 
whose  prejudices  incline  them  in  this  direction,  to 
believe  that  it  is  "absolutely  necessary"  that  all 
legislation  must  take  such  a  form,  and  cause  them 
to  act  accordingly. 

Several  years  since,  Dr.  Durbin  of  the  Christian 
Advocate  and  Journal,  gave  his  views  on  this  sub- 
ject as  follows: — • 

"  I  infer,  therefore,  that  the  civil  magistrate  may  not 
be  called  upon  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath 
[Sunday]     as    requii-ed    in    the     spmtual    kmgdoni    of 
13 


104  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

Christ;  but  when  Christianity  becomes  the  moral  and 
spiritual  life  of  the  State,  the  State  is  bound,  through 
her  magistrates,  to  prevent  the  open  violation  of  the 
holy  Sabbath,  as  a  measure  of  self-preservation.  She 
cannot,  without  injuring  her  own  vitality  and  incurring 
the  Divine  displeasure,  be  recreant  to  her  duty  in  this 
matter." 

At  a  meeting  held  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  12,  1860,  ex-President  Fillmore  said  that 
"  while  he  deemed  it  needful  to  legislate  cautiously 
in  all  matters  connected  with  public  morals,  and  to 
avoid  coercive  measures  affecting  religion,  the  right 
of  every  citizen  to  a  day  of  rest  and  worship  could 
not  be  questioned,  and  laws  securing  that  right 
should  be  enforced." 

And  the  Christian  Statesman  of  Dec.  15,  1871, 
speaking  of  the  general  disregard  of  the  Sabbath 
[Sunday]  in  the  arrangements  for  welcoming  the 
Grand  Duke  Alexis  of  Russia,  says: — 

"  How  long  will  it  be  before  the  Christian  masses  of 
this  country  can  be  roused  to  enact  a  law  compelling 
their  public  servants  to  respect  the  Sabbath  ?  " 

That  the  Sunday  question  has  entered  into  the 
arena  of  politics  to  stay  till  some  decision  is  reached 
in  regard  to  it,  is  now  too  apparent  to  be  questioned ; 
and  this  is  an  immense  stride  in  the  direction  of  the 
fulfillment  of  the  prophecies  referring  to  this  subject, 
as  herein  set  forth. 

In  August,  1882,  a  copy  of  a  paper  published  in 
Chicago,   and  called  the   Illinois   American,    was 


THE  P.  EG  INNING   OF   THE  END.  195 

placed  in  our  hands.  It  purported  to  be  the  organ 
of  the  "American  Partj',"  and  it  was  announced 
that  the  party  intended  to  establish  similar  papers  in 
all  the  leading  States  of  the  Union.  That  party 
claims  to  embody  in  its  platform  "  all  the  great  re- 
forms of  the  day."  One  reform  which  it  considers 
essential  is  the  enforcement  of  Sunday  as  the  Sab- 
bath, after  the  manner  of  the  National  Reform  Asso- 
ciation. In  proof  of  this,  we  have  but  to  quote  the 
first  two  planks  in  its  platform : — 

"We  hold,  1.  That  ours  is  a  Christian  and  not  a  heathen 
nation,  and  that  the  God  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  is 
the  author  of  civil  government;  2.  That  God  requires 
and  man  needs  a  Sabbath." 

This  Sabbath  is,  of  course,  the  first  day  of  the 
week;  and  whatever  papers  this  party  shall  estab- 
lish, will  be  the  political  organs  of  the  Religious 
Amendment  Movement,  as  the  Christian  Statesman 
is  the  religious  organ.  They  enter  the  field  as  a  na- 
tional 5>arty,  and  nominate  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1884,  as  follows:  For  President  of 
the  United  States,  Jonatha,n  Blanchard,  D.  D.,  Pres- 
ident of  Wheaton  College,  Illinois ;  for  Vice-President, 
John  A.  Conant  of  Connecticut. 

The  fanatical  temper  of  the  leading  candidate,  on 
the  Sunday  question,  is  plainly  read  in  a  few  facts: 
1.  He  is  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  National 
Reform  Association,  and  a  prominent  workei"  in  that 
movement ;  2.  In  October,  1881,  a  circular  was 
sent  out  from  Wheaton  College  chapel,  of  which  he 


196  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  PHOPHECY. 

was  evidently  the  inspiring  spirit,  addressed  to  the 
"  Churches  of  Christ  throughout  the  United  States," 
setting  forth  that  our  great  national  calamity,  the 
assassination  of  President  Garfield,  was  a  judgment 
of  God  upon  the  nation  for  its  sins,  chief  among 
which  is  Sabbath  (Sunday)  breaking;  and  beseech- 
ing "that  the  churches  of  Christ,  individually  or 
collectively,  unite  in  requesting  Congress  to  forbid 
by  proper  enactment  the  transaction  of  public  busi- 
ness upon  the  Sabbath-day  by  any  department  of 
government,  and  that  petitions  to  this  effect  be  pre- 
pared or  obtained  from  the  Sabbath  Association  of 
Philadelphia,  to  be  presented  by  that  society  at  the 
opening  of  Congress  on  December  next." 

We  know  many  will  be  inclined  to  look  upon  the 
formation  of  this  new  American  party  as  an  idle 
move,  and  upon  its  efforts  and  object  as  vain  and 
impossible.  But  the  significant  fact  still  remains 
that  somebody  has  thought  enough  of  these  things 
to  inaugurate  this  movement,  and  everything  must 
have  a  beginning.  Moreover,  we  all  know  that  some- 
times the  beginnings  of  great  revolutions  are  exceed- 
ingly small.  The  acorn  which  the  little  child  so 
easily  holds  in  its  hand,  comes  at  length  to  be  the 
sturdy  oak,  which  the  mightiest  tempest  cannot  up- 
root. 

In  one  State  already,  the  Sunday  question  has 
been  made  the  main  issue,  in  a  State  election,  be- 
tween the  two  great  parties.  Democratic  and  Repub- 
lican. In  the  fall  election  of  1882,  California  made 
tins  issue,  and  gave  to  our  country  the  first  spectacle 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE    END.  197 

of  a  strictly  religious  question  in  the  arena  of  poli- 
tics. In  this  struggle  Sunday  was  led  to  the  front 
under  the  mantle  of  a  "police  regulation,"  a  merely 
''civil  institution."  The  working-man,  said  the 
Sunday  advocates,  must  be  secured  in  his  right  to  a 
day  of  rest.  This  claim  was  too  transparent  to  con- 
ceal from  view  the  real  object;  for  the  law  which  it 
was  sought  to  enforce  Avas  not  the  law  of  the  civil 
code,  which  makes  Sunday  a  legal  holiday  and  gives 
eveiy  one  the  privilege  of  resting  on  it  who  chooses 
to  do  so,  but  the  Sunday  law  of  the  penal  code, 
which  was  enacted  for  the  purpose  of  making  all 
desecration  of  the  day  an  offense  against  religion, 
and  punishing  it  as  such.  Now  if  the  design  was 
simply  to  secure  rest  to  the  people  on  that  day,  the 
civil  code  already  provided  for  that,  and  no  one  pro- 
posed to  interfere  with  the  action  of  that  law;  but 
if  it  was  to  enforce  Sunda}^  as  a  religious  institution, 
on  religious  grounds  alone,  the  law  of  the  penal  code 
was  the  one  to  enforce ;  and  in  that  direction  the  ef- 
fort was  made.  The  object  was  therefore  sufficiently 
apparent. 

The  Democrats  having  inserted  in  their  platform 
a  plank  calling  for  the  repeal  of  the  Sunday  law,  the 
Republicans,  in  their  State  Convention,  which  con- 
vened in  Sacramento,  Cal.,  Sept.  30,  1882,  intro- 
duced into  their  platform  a  plank  calling  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  law.  Thus  the  issue  was  fairly 
joined.  The  scene  in  the  Sacramento  Convention 
when  the  Sunday  plank  was  read,  baffles  descrip- 
tion.    The  four  hundred  and  fifty  delegates  broke 


198  THE    UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

into  a  vociferous  shout;  they  clapped  their  hands, 
stamped  with  their  feet,  threw  up  their  hats,  and 
hugged  each  other  in  a  clehrium  of  joy.  It  was  a 
wild,  insane  spirit,  on  which  neither  argument  nor 
the  testimony  of  Scripture  would  make  any  impres- 
sion. We  imagine  it  is  just  such  a  blind  impetuous 
spirit  which  is  essential  to  the  success  of  the  Sun- 
day movement. 

The  Democrats  carried  the  election,  and  the  Sun- 
day law  was  in  due  time  repealed.  And  now  the 
friends  of  the  institution  turn  more  vigorously  than 
ever  toward  the  national  movement  which  is  work- 
ing- for  the  reliofious  amendment. 

In  NeAV  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  the  ag- 
itation of  the  Sunday  question  has  been  remarkable. 
In  February,  1883,  a  correspondent  wrote  from  In- 
diana: ''Almost  every  paper  in  the  State  is  crying 
out  for  Sunday  law  and  Sunday  reform." 

No  less  significant  is  the  fact  that  the  Sunday  ag- 
itation is  appearing  in  foreign  countries  simulta- 
neously with  the  Sunday  movement  in  this  country. 
Who  can  explain  the  fact  that  Sunday  seems  every- 
where coming  to  the  front,  except  on  the  ground 
that  we  have  reached  the  time  pointed  out  in  proph- 
ecy when  such  a  movement  should  be  seen?  The 
Chester  (Eng.)  Chronicle  of  July  0,  1881,  reported 
a  meeting  of  3000  persons  in  Liverpool  in  favor  of 
closing  all  pubHc  houses  on  Sun<lay.  The  Christian 
Statesman  of  July  22,  1880,  gave  information  from 
Enj-land  to  the  effect  that  a  "Workini>-man's  Lord's- 
Dav  Rest  Association  "  had  been  formed  there,  and 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  199 

that  two  of  England's  prime  ministers,  Beaconsfield 
and  Gladstone,  had  given  their  voice  against  the 
opening  of  museums,  etc.,  on  Sunday.  The  same 
policy  is  enforced  by  some,  at  least,  of  the  English 
in  their  dependencies.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
Marquis  of  Ripon,  Avho  was  made  Viceroy  of  India 
in  1880,  was,  according  to  the  Christian  Weekly,  to 
issue  an  order  ^rbidding  official  work  of  any  kind 
on  Sunday. 

In  France  the  question  is  also  agitated.  The  Sen- 
ate having  occasion  to  consider  some  proposed 
changes  in  the  Sunday  laws,  an  eminent  senator, 
M.  Barthelemy  Saint  Hilaire,  according  to  the 
French  journal,  Le  Christianism  aw  19 e  Siecle,  of 
June  11,  1880,  opened  the  eyes  of  his  hearers  by  a 
clear  argument  showing  that  the  seventh  day,  and 
not  the  first  day,  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Bible. 

In  Switzerland  and  Germany,  also,  this  question 
is  before  the  people.  In  the  latter  country,  accord- 
ing to  the  New  York  Independent,  a  meeting  was 
held  a  few  years  ago,  numbering  some  5000  per- 
sons, to  encourage  a  more  strict  observance  of  Sun- 
day.    Many  of  these  were  socialists. 

Austria,  also,  shares  in  the  general  movement.  A 
New  York  paper,  in  January,  1883,  published  this 
item : — 

"A  telegram  from  Vienna,  Austria,  says:  '  A  meeting 
of  3000  workmen  was  held  to-day,  at  which  a  resolution 
was  passed  protesting  against  Sunday  work.  A  resolu- 
tion was  also  passed  in  favor  of  legal  prohibition  of  news- 
paper and  other  work  on  that  day.'  " 


200  THE   UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

To  come  back  again  to  our  own  country,  we  have 
the  following  singular  circumstance  to  record :  The 
Illustrated  Christian  WeeJdy  of  March  3,  1883, 
spoke  of  the  novel  spectacle  of  a  strike  for  religious 
purposes,  as  follows  : — 

"  A  hundred  men  employed  l)y  the  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio  Railway  have  struck,  not  for  higher  wages,  but  for 
their  Sunday."  . 

There  is  a  local  Sabbath  [Sunday]  Committee  in 
many  of  the  great  cities,  and  an  International  Sab- 
bath Association  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  other 
nations.  This  Association  has  its  offices  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

The  churches  can  carry  their  point  whenever  they 
can  become  sufficiently  aroused  to  take  general  and 
concerted  action  in  the  matter.  David  Swing,  at  a 
ministers'  meeting  in  Chicago  in  1879,  held  for  the 
purpose  of  deliberating  in  regard  to  a  better  observ- 
ance of  Sunday,  according  to  a  report  in  the  Inter 
Ocean,  said: — 

"  Group  together  these  churches, — Presbyterian,  Meth- 
odist, Baj^ttist,  Congregational,  Episcopal,  and  Catholic, 
and  they  make  up  a  powerful  group  of  gcn"rals  and  sol- 
diers. They  can  throw  great  armies  into  the  field. 
Whoever  should  hope  to  lift  up  suffering  humanity  Avith- 
out  asking  the  aid  of  all  these  heroes  of  old  battle-fields, 
would  simply  show  how  feeble  he  is  in  the  search  of 
great  means  to  a  great  end." 

Thus  Protestants  propose  to  act  in  concert  with 
Catholics  in  this  matter,  and  profess  no  lack  of  as- 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   END.  201 

surance  in  regard  to  accomplishing  wliat  they  under- 
take. And  so  impatient  are  some  to  reach  the  de- 
sired result,  that  they  are  even  considering  whether 
they  cannot  regard  the  Constitution  already  Chris- 
tian, and  proceed  to  act  accordingly,  without  waiting 
for  the  religious  amenduient.  Thus,  Bishop  A.  Cleve- 
land Coxe,  D.  D.,  writing  on  "National  Christian- 
ity," in  the  N.  Y.  Independent  of  July  8,  1880,  ex- 
presses respect  for  the  "integrity,  piety,  efforts,  and 
objects,  of  the  National  Reform  Association,"  but 
thinks  it  would  be  conceding  too  much  to  the  infidel 
element  to  acknowledge  that  the  Constitution  is  not 
Christian  as  it  now  stands.  He  thinks  the  better 
way  would  be  to  consider  that  it  is  already  Chris- 
tian, and  then  unitedly  move  against  all  opposing 
influences.  And  he  suggests  that  by  the  time  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution shall  be  reached,  Sept.  17, 1887,  a  league  shall 
have  been  formed,  embracing  all  Christians  in  an 
organization  which  politicians  shall  respect  and  evil- 
doers fear,  and  then  such  a  celebration  of  the  adop- 
tion of  "  Our  Christian  Constitution"  shall  be  held 
as  will  cause  the  material  splendor  of  1876  to  pale 
before  its  moral  grandeur,  and  make  "American 
Christianity  as  evident  to  the  world  as  our  other 
characteristics  are  already." 

Something  important  may  grow  out  of  this  sug- 
gestion. It  will  at  any  rate  be  safe  to  say  that  we 
shall  see  what  we  shall  see. 

This  notice  of  current  movements  would  hardly 
be  complete  without  a  glance  at  the  seductive  ap- 


202  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

parent  change  of  issue  which  is  now  coming  to  be 
quite  prominently  brought  to  the  front ;  and  that  is, 
that  the  Sunday  is  not  to  be  enforced  as  a  religious 
institution,  but  'only  as  a  civil  institution ;  that  to 
enforce  the  keeping  of  the  day  as  an  act  of  religion, 
would  be  to  violate  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  and 
strike  a  blow  at  religious  liberty,  but  that  the  State 
has  a  right  to  enforce  it  as  a  "  sanitary  measure,"  a 
"  police  regulation,"  a  merely  "  civil  enactment,"  and 
with  this  seventh-day  keepers  must  comply,  or  move 
elsewhere. 

The  International  Sahhath  Association  Recorder, 
published  at  19  So.  Twelfth-st.,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
has  for  one  of  its  mottoes  these  words  of  Adam 
Smith:— 

"The  Sabbath  as  a  political  institution  is  of  inestimable 
value,  independently  of  its  claim  to  divine  authority." 

Richard  W.  Thompson,  when  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  in  1880,  at  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Sab- 
bath Committee,  as  reported  in  the  Ncav  York  Her- 
ald of  March  8,  1880,  said:— 

"  I  take  it  there  is  no  principle  better  fixed  in  the 
American  mind  than  the  determination  to  insist  upon 
the  conformity  by  foreigners  to  oiu-  Sunday  legislation. 
We  are  a  Sabbath-keejnng  peo2)le.  [Applause.]  Men 
say  that  we  have  no  })Ower  to  interfere  with  the  natural 
right  of  individuals  ;  that  a  man  may  spend  Sunday  as 
he  pleases.  But  society  has  a  right  to  make  laws  for  its 
own  protection.  Tli(^y  are  not  religious  laws.  The  men 
engagcul  in  this  grand  work  of  securing  the  enforcement 
of  the  Sabbath  laws,  do  not  want  to  force  you  into  any 


THE   BEGINNING    OF    THE    END.  208 

church  ;  for  these  gentlemen  represent  all  denominations. 
They  want  to  make  you  observe  the  Sabbath-day  as  a 
day  of  rest  merely, — peaceahly  if  they  can,  forcibly  if 
they  must, — only  so  far  as  it  is  necessary  to  protect  soci- 
ety. Destroy  the  Sabbath,  and  you  go  out  of  light  into 
darkness.  A  government  witliout  the  Sabbath  as  a  civil 
institution,  could  not  stand  long  enough  to  fall.  [Ap- 
plause.] " 

And  yet  with  all  these  professions  they  find  it  im- 
possible to  conceal  the  fact  that  it  is,  after  all,  a  re- 
ligious observance  which  they  wish  to  secure.  Thus 
Mr.  Thompson  continues: — 

"  Why  are  we  so  especially  interested  in  Sabbath  laws  1 
Because  there  is  no  other  government  that  depends  so 
much  on  the  morality  of  its  citizens  as  ours.  Here, 
where  we  have  a  republic  with  its  existence  depending 
on  the  mass  of  the  jjeople,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  gen- 
eral observance  of  the  /Sabbath.^' 

The  italics  in  the  foregoing  quotation  are  ours; 
and  we  thus  emphasize  these  words  because  we  must 
insist  that  the  devoting  of  a  day  to  cessation  from 
labor  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  the  State  is  in  no  sense 
the  "  observance  of  the  Sabbath."  even  though  the 
right  day  were  selected  for  that  purpose.  For  the 
very  idea  of  the  Sabbath  is  a  religious  idea.  It  is 
derived  from  the  word  of  God.  There  is  no  Sabbath 
in  any  scriptural  sense,  except  the  day  that  God 
made  such  by  resting  upon  it.  And  Avhen  the  day 
is  observed  as  a  religious  act,  on  the  authority  of 
God's  word  and  as  his  woi'd  directs,  the  Sabbath  is 


204  THE    UNITED    STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

observed,  but  not  otherwise.  Neither  is  compliance 
with  a  State  law  to  stop  work  on  a  certain  day,  in 
any  just  sense  the  practice  of  "morality,"  unless  the 
State  is  the  source  of  that  grace,  and  civil  laws  are 
moral  laws.  Yet  Mr.  T.  's  language  betrays  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  "morality,"  and  the  " observance  of 
the  Sabbath,"  that  it  is  intended  to  enforce. 

The  people  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  the  call  for  a 
mass-meeting,  Feb.  10,  1879,  "for  the  purpose  of 
securing  a  better  observance  of  our  weekly  rest- 
day,"  endeavored  to  draw  this  distinction  sharp,  as 
follows : — 

"  With  reorard  to  the  Sabbath  as  a  reliffioas  institu- 

o  o 

tion,  we  propose  to  do  nothing  whatever  in  this  meeting. 
We  withdraw  from  the  discussion  every  religious  ques- 
tion. Your  attention  will  be  called  exclusively  to  the 
Sabbath  as  a  civil  institution,  a  day  of  rest  from  labor 
and  public  amusements,  set  apart  for  that  purpose  by 
the  immemorial  usage  of  the  American  peo})le  and  the 
laws  of  the  land." 

Mr.  Joseph  Cook,  in  a  Boston  lecture  in  May, 
1879,  claimed  the  same  distinction.     He  said: — 

"Sabbath  laws  are  justified  in  a  republic  by  the  right 
of  self-preservation.  .  .  .  An  important  distinction  ex- 
ists between  Sunday  observance  as  a  religious  ordinance 
and  as  a  civil  institution.  American  courts,  while  en- 
forcing the  Sunday  laws,  disclaim  interference  with  re- 
ligion," etc. 

Such  a  presentation  of  the  subject  will  captivat<3 
many   minds,  and   lead   thousands  to  act  from   a 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE   END.  205 

standpoint  of  secular  policy  as  they  would  not  dare 
to  act  from  that  of  religious  toleration. 

Even  the  N.  Y.  Independent,  after  its  scathing 
exposure  of  the  inconsistency  of  the  Religious  Amend- 
ment Movement,  as  given  on  p.  188,  is,  in  its  issue 
of  Jan.  4,  1883,  carried  away  with  this  kind  of 
logfic.  The  case  callina^  out  its  remarks  was  this : 
Certain  Jews  in  New  York  City  made  application 
for  an  injunction  restraining  the  police  from  arrest- 
ing them  for  pursuing  their  ordinary  business  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  observers  of  the  seventh  day.  The  injunction 
was  temporarily  granted  by  Judge  Arnoux,  but  was 
soon  after  dissolved,  on  the  plea  that  the  business  of 
the  applicants  would  not  come  under  the  head  of 
"works  of  mercy  or  necessity."  The  New  York 
penal  code  makes  only  this  provision  for  observers 
of  the  seventh  day : — 

"  It  is  a  sufficient  defense  to  a  prosecution  for  servile 
labor  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  that  the  defendant 
uniformly  keej^s  another  day  of  the  week  as  holy  time, 
and  does  not  labor  on  that  day;  and  that  the  labor 
complained  of  was  done  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  in- 
terrupt or  disturb  other  persons  in  observing  the  first 
day  of  the  week  as  holy  time." 

It  is  now  argued  that  this  is  no  ground  for  ex- 
emption from  arrest  for  Sunday  labor;  for  such 
labor  is  a  violation  of  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  the 
law  does  not  presume  that  a  man  has  a  defense  till 
he  makes  one.     Therefore,  although  a  man  is  well 


20G  THE   UNITED  STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

knoAvn  to  be  a  conscientious  observer  of  the  seventh 
da}^,  he  may  be  arrested  whenever  found  working 
on  the  first  day,  and  put  to  all  the  annoyance  and 
trouble  of  making  a  defense.  And  such  a  course  of 
action  is  defended  as  right. 

To  the  question,  Would  not  this  be  a  hardship  to 
the  Jews  and  Seventh-day  Baptists  ?  the  Indeioen- 
dent  makes  answer  that  this  is  incidental  to  their 
living  in  a  community  which  makes  Sunday  the 
day  of  rest,  and  cannot  be  avoided  without  destroy- 
ing the  day  of  rest  altogether. 

Again  it  says  that  if  the  Sunday  law  ''is  not 
equally  well  fitted  to  the  Jews,  as  it  is  not,  who  form 
but  a  mere  fragment  of  the  people,  this  is  an  incon- 
venience to  them  which  they  must  bear,  and  which 
the  law  cannot  remove  without  imposing  a  nuich 
greater  inconvenience  upon  a  far  larger  number  of 
persons." 

Now  comes  the  distinction  on  the  strength  of 
which  these  sentiments  are  uttered.  Again  we 
quote:  "If  it  [the  Sunday  law]  enforced  any  kind 
of  religious  observance  upon  them,  this  would  bo 
unjust;  but  there  is  no  injustice  in  requiring  them 
to  observe  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  in  a  community 
in  which,  for  good  and  sufficient  general  reasons,  the 
day  is  so  observed.  If  they  do  not  like  it,  we  see  no 
remedy  for  them  except  in  a  withdrawal  from  such 
a  community." 

Notwithstanding  such  declarations,  the  general 
reader  will,  Ave  think,  be  able  to  look  beneath  this 
woolly  exterior,  and  discein  the  true  nature  of  the 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  207 

Sunday-law  movement,  and  why  it  has  seen  fit  to 
array  itself  in  sheep's  clothing.  It  will,  without 
doubt,  be  conceded  by  all  that  the  present  clamor 
for  Sunday  legislation  is  owing  entirely  to  the  fact 
that  the  great  majority  of  religionists  regard  the 
day  as  a  divine  institution,  and  its  observance  as  a 
religious  duty.  But  some  do  not  so  regard  it,  be- 
cause they  understand  that  God  has  set  apart  an- 
other day  for  the  Sabbath,  and  does  not  require  the 
observance  of  this  one ;  and  when  such  are  compelled 
to  observe  the  first  day,  in  what  position  are  they  at 
once  placed?  They  are  made  to  keep  the  day  be- 
cause others  regard  it  as  a  divine  institution,  while 
they  do  not  so  regard  it,  and  to  pay  homage  to  a  re- 
ligious custom  which  they  know  to  be  false.  They 
are  deprived  of  one-sixth  of  the  time  which  God 
has  given  them  for  labor,  and  are  thus  robbed  of 
one-sixth  of  their  means  of  support,  if  they  live  by 
the  labor  of  their  hands,  as  most  of  them  do,  because 
a  stronger  religion  demands  it,  and  the  State  con- 
firms that  demand.  Is  there  not  here  religious  dis- 
crimination? Are  not  the  consciences  of  one  class 
oppressed  in  the  interest  of  another  class?  Is  not 
this  an  interference  on  the  part  of  the  State  with 
the  spiritual  freedom  of  its  subjects?  Is  not  this 
religious  intolerance  and  persecution  for  conscience' 
sake?  Such,  in  reality,  it  is,  however  much  people 
may  try  to  disguise  it  by  other  names. 

In  a  later  issue,  dated  March  1,  1883,  in  reply  to 
the  question  from  a  correspondent,  "  Will  you  please 
tell  me  how  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  religion?" 


208  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN   PROPHECY. 

the  Inde'pendimt  says:  "We  can  only  repeat  that  it 
is  a  great  disadvantage  to  be  in  the  minority.  Peo- 
ple there  may  be  right;  but  they  must  suffer  and 
submit."  Every  one,  from  the  days  of  the  apostles 
down,  who  has  suffered  from  religious  oppression, 
could  testify  in  regard  to  the  disadvantage  of  being 
in  the  minority.  But  is  this  government,  which 
professes  to  guarantee  to  the  weakest  and  humblest 
citizen  his  just  rights,  now  to  take  the  position  that 
such  rights  cannot  be  secured  unless  he  is  with  the 
majority? 

Again  the  Independent  says: — 

"'  All  the  State  wants  is  that  the  citizens  shall  have 
one  day  in  seven  for  rest,  not  for  religion." 

But  can  any  one  tell  why  the  large  majority  can- 
not "rest"  just  as  Avell  on  the  first  day,  even  if  the 
small  minority  who  keep  the  seventh  day,  go  about 
their  legitimate  and  honorable  occupation?  If  it  is 
"rest"  merely  that  is  wanted,  does  my  work  hinder 
my  neighbor  from  resting?  But  no!  if  you  are 
seen  at  work,  you  shall  be  arrested.  Therefore,  it  is 
not  simply  the  privilege  of  rest  for  those  who  desire 
it,  but  a  compulsory  rest,  whether  you  wish  it  or 
not,  because  others  desire  that  you  shall  riist  as  well 
as  themselves.     Again  we  quote : — 

"If  they  insist  on  so  woiking  as  to  interfere  with  the 
rest-day  of  the  majority,  they  must  either  move,  or  be 
moved  away.     We  are  sorry,  hut  there  is  no  help  for  it." 

We  know  of  no  obs(.'rvers  of  the  seventh  day  who 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  END.  209 

have  the  least  intention  or  desire  to  interfere  with 
others  in  their  observance  of  the  first  day.  They 
would  religiously  refrain  from  disturbing  either  the 
private  rest  or  the  public  devotion  of  any  on  that 
day.  But  we  apprehend  that  the  very  fact  that 
they  do  not  keep  the  day,  nor  acknowledge  its 
claims,  will  be  construed  to  amount  to  a  sufficient 
"interference"  and  ''disturbance"  to  call  for  repress- 
ive  measures.     Let  them  "move  or  be  moved." 

The  opposition  to  the  religious  amendment  mani- 
fested in  many  parts  of  the  country,  especially  by 
the  liberal  or  infidel  element,  is  thought  by  many  to 
be  an  insuperable  barrier  in  the  way  of  its  success. 
But  if  we  mistake  not,  this  is  the  very  stimulus 
which  will  excite  its  friends  to  such  exertions  that 
it  will  ultimately  be  secured;  for  the  opposition  as- 
sumes such  an  aggressive  attitude  that  no  neutral 
ground  is  left ;  an  irrepressible  conflict  is  precipitated ; 
it  must  be  victory  or  defeat  of  the  most  decisive 
kind  with  either  party;  the  government  must  be- 
come nominally  Christian  or  wholly  secular. 

Thus  the  National  Reform  Association  set  forth 
the  object  they  have  in  view  by  the  second  article  of 
their  Constitution,  which  reads  as  follows  : — 

"The  object  of  this  Society  shall  be  to  maintain  exist- 
ing Christian  features  in  the  American  government,  and 
to  secure  such  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  as  will  indicate  that  this  is  a  Christian 
nation,  and  place  all  the  Christian  laws,  institutions,  and 
usages  of  our  government  on  an  undeniable  legal  basis 
in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land." 
U 


210  THE   UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  opposition  to  this  National 
Reform  Movement,  liberaUsm  sets  forth  its  sweeping 
demands  in  the  following  platform : — 

<'l.  We  demand  that  churches  and  other  ecclesiasti- 
cal property  shall  no  longer  be  exempt  from  just  taxation. 

''  2.  We  demand  that  the  employment  of  chaplains  in 
Congress,  in  State  Legislatures,  in  tlie  navy  and  militia, 
and  in  prisons,  asylums,  and  all  other  institutions  sup- 
ported by  public  money,  shall  be  discontinued. 

"3.  We  demand  that  all  pubhc  appropriations  for 
educational  and  charitable  institutions  of  a  sectarian 
character  shall  cease. 

"4.  W^e  demand  that  all  religious  services  now  sus- 
tained by  the  government  shall  be  abolished ;  and  espe- 
cially that  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  j^ublic  schools, 
whether  ostensibly  as  a  text-book  or  avowedly  as  a  book 
of  religious  worship,  shall  be  prohibited. 

"5.  We  demand  that  the  appointment,  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  or  by  the  Governors  of  the 
various  States,  of  all  religious  festivals  and  fasts,  shall 
wholly  cease. 

*'  6.  We  demand  that  the  judicial  oath,  in  the  courts 
and  in  all  other  depai-tments  of  the  government,  shall  be 
abolished,  and  that  simple  affirmation  under  the  pains 
and  ])enalties  of  perjury  shall  be  established  in  its  stead. 

"7.  We  demand  that  all  laws  directly  or  indirectly 
enforcing  the  observance  of  Sunday  as  the  Sabbath  shall 
be  repealed. 

"  8.  We  demand  tliat  all  laws  looking  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  '  Christian '  morality  shall  be  abrogated,  and  that 
all  laws  shall  be  conformed  to  tlie  requii-ements  of  nat- 
ural morality,  equal  riglits,  and  impartial  liberty. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END.  211 

"  9.  We  demand  that  not  only  in  the  Constitutions  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  but  also  in 
the  practical  administration  of  the  same,  no  privilege  or 
advantage  shall  be  conceded  to  Christianity  or  any  other 
special  religion ;  that  our  entire  political  system  shall  be 
founded  and  administered  on  a  purely  secular  basis ; 
and  that  whatever  changes  shall  prove  necessary  to  this 
end,  shall  be  consistently,  unflinchingly,  and  promptly 
made." 

The  Inter  Ocean  of  Nov.  16,  1880,  reported  the 
proceedings  of  a  convention  held  in  Chicago  the 
day  previous  for  the  promotion  of  the  "seculariza- 
tion" of  the  State.  "By  that,"  said  the  report, 
"they  signify  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  and  all  re- 
ligious training  from  the  public  schools,  and  the  tax- 
ation of  church  property.  A  permanent  organiza- 
tion was  effected." 

Thus  while  frequent  conventions  are  held  by  the 
National  Reform  Party,  counter  conventions  are 
held  by  the  Liberalists  ;  and  the  forces  are  marshall- 
ing on  either  side. 

In  the  Richland  Star  of  Dec.  4,  1879,  published 
in  Bellville,  O.,  an  infidel  wrote  against  the  National 
Reform  Party,  which  had  then  recently  held  a  con- 
vention in  Mansfield,  O.,  concluding  his  remarks  as 
follows: — 

"The  lash  and  the  sword  have  always  proved  poor 
ambassadors  of  Christ.  If  we  live  up  to  our  Constitu- 
tion as  it  now  is,  we  shall  be  good  citizens,  and  have  all 
the  room  we  care  to  occupy  as  Christians." 


212  THE   UNITED  STATES  IN  PROPHECY. 

To  this  writer  a  Mr.  W.  W.  Anderson  replied  in 
the  next  issue  of  the  same  paper  in  defense  of  the 
Association,  giving  expression,  in  his  remarks,  to  this 
sentiment : — 

"Either  we  are  a  Christian  nation,  or  we  are  not. 
Either  our  Sabbath  laws,  so  essential  to  good  order  and 
the  welfare  of  all  classes,  are  to  be  maintained,  or  they 
are  to  be  abrogated.  In  the  latter  case,  we  shall  wade 
through  blood,  as  Paris  did  when  under  infidel  rule." 

These  passages  show  that  the  contestants  are 
fully  aware  of  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the 
struggle  upon  which  the  Christian  world  is  now 
entering. 

A  very  marked  and  rapid  change  is  taking  place 
in  public  ojDinion  relative  to  the  proposed  religious 
amendment  of  the  Constitution.  Some  who  were 
at  first  openly  hostile  to  the  movement,  we  learn 
are  now  giving  their  influence  for  its  advance- 
ment, and  clamoring  loudly  for  a  Sunday  law. 
And  some  who  at  first  regarded  it  with  in- 
difference, are  now  becoming  its  warm  partisans. 
As  a  sample  of  this  change  of  feeling,  the  following 
paragraph  from  the  Christian  Press  of  January, 
1872,  may  be  presented.  The  Christian  Press  is 
the  organ  of  the  Western  Book  and  Tract  Society, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  its  editor,  speaking  of  the 
National  Association  above  referred  to,  says: — 

"When  this  Association  was  formed,  while  we  were 
prepared  to  bid  it  God  speed,  we  did  not  then  feel  that 
there  was  any  pressing  need  for  the  object  sought ;  and 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   END.  213 

as  our  mission  was  specially  directed  to  the  Christianiz- 
ing, enlightening,  and  elevating  of  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple, we  have  said  little  in  our  columns  on  the  subject, 
being  assured  that  if  the  people  are  right,  it  is  easy  to 
set  the  government  right.  The  late  combined  efforts, 
however,  of  various  classes  of  our  citizens  to  exclude  the 
Bible  from  our  schools,  repeal  our  Sabbath  laws,  and 
divorce  our  government  entirely  from  religion,  and  thus 
make  it  an  atheistic  government, — for  every  government 
must  be  for  God  or  against  him,  and  must  be  adminis- 
tered in  the  interests  of  religion  and  good  morals,  or  in 
the  interests  of  irreligion  and  immorality, — have  changed 
our  mind,  and  we  are  now  prepared  to  urge  the  neces- 
sity for  an  explicit  acknowledgment  in  the  national  Con- 
stitution of  the  authority  of  God,  and  the  supremacy  of 
his  law  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments." 

The  course  of  the  Examiner  and  Chronicle,  the 
leading  Baptist  journal  of  our  country,  is  another 
case  in  point.  When  the  movement  for  the  religious 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  was  inaugurated, 
this  paper,  alluding  thereto,  said: — 

"We  have  wondered  at  the  magical  effects  ascribed 
to  the  sacraments  according  to  high-church  theology. 
But  turning  a  nation  of  atheists  to  Christians  by  a  few 
strokes  of  the  pen,  by  a  vote  in  Congress,  and  ratifying 
votes  in  three-fourths  of  the  State  Legislatures,  is  equally 
miraculous  and  incomprehensible.  This  agitation  for  a 
national  religion,  officially  professed,  has  for  its  logical 
outcome  persecution — that,  and  nothing  more  or  less. 
It  is  a  movement  backward  to  the  era  of  Constantine ; 


214  THE   UNITED   STATES    IX   PROPHECY. 

as  far  below  the  spirituality  of  the  New  Testament  as  it 
is  below  the  freedom  of  Republican  America." 

But  in  1879  the  same  paper,  in  an  article  on  "The 
Day  of  Rest,"  changed  its  tone  in  reference  to  na- 
tional action  on  this  question,  as  follows: — 

"By  these  and  other  considerations,  thei'efore,  we  are 
justified  in  holding  that  the  spirit  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, with  all  its  divine  sanctions  and  sacred  priv- 
ileges, applies  in  full  force  to  the  Christian  day  of  rest. 
To  preserve  it  from  profanation,  to  maintain  its  inesti- 
mable privileges,  to  secure  to  all  the  sanitary,  moral,  fam- 
ily and  civic  benefits  of  which  M.  Proudhon  Avrote,  as 
well  as  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  religious  service 
on  that  day,  is  a  duty  which  Christians  owe  at  once  to 
their  country  and  their  God.  And  in  this  work  gov- 
ernments should  aid,  within  their  sphere,  in  the  interest 
of  public  morals,  and  the  general  well-being  of  society." 

Again:  the  Universalist oi  Oct.  6,  1877,  published 
in  Boston,  Mass.,  contained  a  report  of  "The  Massa- 
chusetts Convention  of  Universalists,"  held  in  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  Sept.  25,  1877.  In  that  Convention 
a  resolution  "heartily  sympathizing  with  the  aims 
of  the  National  Reform  Association  in  seeking  a 
legal  recognition  of  God  and  his  government,"  was 
introduced.  The  committee  to  whom  it  was  referred 
recommended  its  adoption.  In  the  discussion  which 
followed,  Mr.  H.  Kimball  said,  "  We  may  initiate  a 
r(.>ligious  war,  of  all  wars  the  most  bitter."  Dr. 
Fhinders  said,  "There  is  danger  in  the  resolution." 
Rev.  Mr.  Chambrd  said,  "It  is  a  reactionary  move- 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE    END.  215 

ment,  hostile  to  the  rehgious  liberty  whereof  Uni- 
versalists  have  been  the  special  champions."  E-ev. 
G.  W.  Haskell  said  that  "the  Association  which 
seeks  the  change  in  the  Constitution  only  keeps  its 
Calvinism  in  abeyance.  That  will  come  in  due 
time  if  its  gets  encouragement." 

After  all  these  plain  utterances,  a  motion  for  in- 
definite postponement  was  lost.  A  motion  to  strike 
it  out  was  lost.  The  motion  to  adopt  was  then  car- 
ried by  a  vote  of  61  to  47. 

This  strange  action  on  the  part  of  the  Univers- 
alists  may  be  attributed  largely  to  the  course  of  the 
"Liberal  League"  in  calling  for  the  abolition  of  all 
recognition  of  God  and  religion  in  State  instruments 
and  operations,  and  making  the  government  wholly 
secular;  for  this  is  alarming  the  fears  of  all  classes 
of  professed  Christians,  and  arousing  them  to  repel 
what  thev  consider  the  danger.  Nothino:  can  tend 
more  strongly  to  precipitate  the  conflict  on  the 
Amendment  question. 

The  tendency  of  religious  opinion  is  still  further 
shown  in  the  position  taken  by  the  Christian  In- 
structor the  present  year.  Judge  Black  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, having  argued  before  the  House  Judiciary 
Committee  at  Washington,  Jan.  30,  1883,  against 
the  bill  "  To  Suppress  Polygamy  in  the  Territories," 
the  Instructor  said: — 

"When  distinguished  jurists  ure  taking  such  positions 
relatmg  to  questions  of  Christian  morals,  is  it  not  time, 
is  it  not  imperative,  that  the  Christian  people  of  this 
nation  should  demand  the  religious  amendment  of  the 


216  THE   UNITED   STATES   IN   PROPHECY. 

Constitution?  Many  say,  as  they  have  been  saying,  'It 
is  best  to  let  well  enough  alone.'  It  is  becoming  mani- 
fest, however,  that  well  enough  cannot  be  left  alone. 
The  silence  of  the  Constitution  is  being  interpreted  and 
used  against  the  Christian  institutions  of  the  nation. 
The  Constitution  must  cease  to  be  silent,  and,  by  the 
amendment,  must  unmistakably  declare  that  this  is  a 
Christian  nation,  and  that  its  morality  is  the  morality 
of  the  revealed  will  of  God.  Only  thus  is  it  possible  to 
have  our  Christian  institutions  and  usages  permanently 
preserved." 

Many  have  been  waiting  with  no  little  interest  to 
hear  Catholics  speak  on  this  question,  querying 
what  position  they  would  assume.  An  incident 
which  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1880,  plainly  fore- 
shadowed their  policy  in  this  matter.  At  the  time 
referred  to,  S.  V.  Ryan,  the  Catholic  Bishop  of  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y.,  issued  a  circular  denouncing  the  profana- 
tion of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  declaring  that 
none  would  be  recognized  as  Catholics  who  would 
not  strictly  observe  the  Lord's  day.  He  urged  his 
plea  solely  on  the  authority  of  the  church,  claiming, 
truly,  that  the  day  was  an  institution  of  the  church. 
Notwithstanding  this,  the  Christian  World  hastened 
to  welcome  this  new  ally  in  the  Sunday  cause. 
Publishing  the  remarkable  document  which  appeals 
to  the  "Blessed  Mother"  as  witness  to  its  truth,  the 
World  urges  the  consideration  and  preservation  of 
the  circular,  and  says: — 

"It  would  certainly  furnish  great  ground  of  gratitude 
to  every  truly  pious  heart,  if  we  might  count  upon  the 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE    END.  217 

Eoman  Catholic  ministers  of  religion  as  faithful  allies  in 
the  struggle. " 

In  reference  to  the  Catholic  claim  that  the  Sun- 
day institution  rests  wholly  upon  the  authority  of 
the  church,  the  World  says: — 

''The  historical  statement  with  regard  to  the  position 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  the  question  of  the 

Lord's   day  is,   unfortunately,  far    from    correct 

And  yet  we  prefer  to  waive  an  inquiry  into  the  truth,  or 
falsity  of  Bishop  Kyan's  claims,  and  to  congratulate  our 
Roman  Catholic  citizens  and  ourselves  on  the  position 
which  some,  at  least,  of  the  prelates  of  this  church  in  this 
country  are  disposed  to  assume." 

This  is  a  remarkable  position  for  a  religious  journal, 
professing  to  be  a  defender  of  the  truth,  to  take. 
Here  is  an  assertion  put  forth  by  the  great  Catho- 
lic hierarchy — and  Protestants  are  challenged  to  meet 
it — which,  if  true,  nullifies  every  claim  of  the  first-day 
Sabbath  to  divine  support,  making  it  simply  a  hu- 
man institution,  not  binding  in  any  degree  upon  the 
consciences  of  men.  In  the  face  of  such  an  assertion 
its  truth  is  the  first  question  to  be  settled.  But  this 
Protestant  writer  proposes  to  waive  all  inquiry  into 
the  matter,  virtually  saying,  We  care  not  whether 
the  claim  is  true  or  false,  nor  what  the  origin  of  the 
institution  is,  nor  upon  what  authority  it  rests,  if 
only  we  can  have  your  assistance  in  trying  to  carry 
our  point,  and  enforce  it  upon  the  people.  Can  any 
one  suppose  that  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  the 
truth  for  the  truth's  sake,  constitute  the  motive  for 
such  a  course  of  action? 


218  THE    UNITED   STATES    IN   PROPHECY. 

With  the  anti-Sunday  movements  of  the  present 
day,  considering  their  associations,  and  the  manner 
and  object  in  and  for  which  they  are  carried  for- 
ward, we  have  no  s^anpathy.  They  aim  at  utter 
no-Sabbathism,  freedom  from  all  moral  restraint, 
and  all  the  evils  of  unbridled  intemperance, — ends 
which  we  abhor  with  all  the  strength  of  a  moral 
nature  quickened  by  the  most  intense  religious  con- 
victions. And  while  the  indignation  of  the  better 
portion  of  the  community  will  be  aroused  at  the 
want  of  religious  principle  and  the  immorality  at- 
tending the  popular  anti- Sunday  movement,  a  little 
lack  of  discrimination,  by  no  means  uncommon, 
will,  on  account  of  our  opposition  to  the  day,  though 
we  oppose  it  on  entirely  different  ground,  easily  as- 
sociate us  with  the  class  above-mentioned,  and  sub- 
ject us  to  the  same  odium. 

Meanwhile,  some  see  the  evils  involved  in  this 
movement,  and  raise  the  note  of  alarm.  The 
Christian  Union,  January,  1871,  said: — 

"If  the  proposed  amendment  is  anything  more  than  a 
bit  of  sentimental  cant,  it  is  to  have  a  legal  effect.  It  is 
to  alter  the  status  of  the  non-Christian  citizen  before  the 
law.  It  is  to  aflect  the  legal  oaths  and  instruments,  the 
matrimonial  contracts,  the  sumptuary  laws,  etc.,  etc.,  of 
the  country.     This  would  be  an  outrage  on  natural  right." 

The  Janes ville  (Wis.)  Gazette,  at  the  close  of  an 
article  on  the  proposed  amendment,  speaks  thus  of 
the  effect  of  the  movement,  should  it  succeed: — 

"  But,  independent  of  the  question  as  to  what  extent 


THE   BEGINNING    OF    THE    END.  219 

we  are  a  Christian  nation,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether, 
if  the  gentlemen  who  are  agitating  this  question  should 
succeed,  they  would  not  do  society  a  very  great  injury. 
Such  measures  are  but  the  initiatory  steps  which  ulti- 
mately lead  to  restrictions  of  religious  freedom,  and  to 
commit  the  government  to  measures  which  are  as  foreign 
to  its  powers  and  purposes  as  would  be  its  action  if  it 
should  undertake  to  determine  a  disputed  question  of 
theology." 

The  Weekly  Alta  Calif ornian  of  San  Francisco, 
March  12,  1870,  said:— 

"  The  parties  who  have  been  recently  holding  a  con- 
vention for  the  somewhat  novel  pm-pose  of  procuring  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  rec- 
ognizing the  Deity,  do  not  fairly  state  the  case  when 
they  assert  that  it  is  the  right  of  a  Christian  people  to 
govern  themselves  in  a  Christian  manner.  If  we  are  not 
governing  ourselves  in  a  Christian  manner,  how  shall  the 
doings  of  our  government  be  designated  ]  The  fact  is, 
that  the  movement  is  one  to  bring  about  in  this  country 
that  union  of  Church  and  State  which  all  other  nations 
are  trying  to  dissolve." 

The  New  York  Independent,  February,  1870, 
spoke  of  the  movement  as  having  the  same  chance 
of  success  that  a  union  of  Church  and  State  would 
have. 

The  Champlain  Journal,  speaking  of  incorporat- 
ing the  religious  principle  into  the  Constitution,  and 
in  effect  upon  the  Jews,  said: — 

"  However  slight,  it  is  the  entering  wedge  of  Church 


220  THE   UNITED   STATES    IN   PKOPHECY. 

and  State.  If  we  may  cut  ofT  ever  so  few  persons  from 
the  right  of  citizenship  on  account  of  difierence  of  relig- 
ious belief,  then  with  equal  justice  and  propriety  may  a 
majority  at  any  time  dictate  the  adoption  of  still  further 
articles  of  belief,  until  our  Constitution  is  but  the  text- 
book of  a  sect  beneath  whose  tyrannical  sway  all  liberty 
of  religious  ojnnion  luill  he  cruslied.^^ 

For  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  in  the  strict 
mediaeval  form  and  sense,  we  do  not  look.  In  place 
of  this,  we  apprehend  that  what  is  called  *'  the  im- 
age," a  creation  as  strange  as  it  is  unique,  comes  in, 
not  as  a  State  controlled  by  the  church,  and  the 
church  in  turn  supported  by  the  State,  but  as  an  ec- 
clesiastical establishment  empowered  to  enforce  its 
own  decrees  by  civil  penalties ;  which,  in  all  its  prac- 
tical bearings,  will  amount  to  exactly  the  same  thing. 

Some  one  may  now  say.  As  you  expect  this  move- 
ment to  carry,  you  must  look  for  a  period  of  relig- 
ious persecution  in  this  country;  nay,  more,  you 
must  take  the  position  that  all  the  saints  of  God  are 
to  be  put  to  death ;  for  the  image  is  to  cause  that  all 
who  will  not  worship  it  shall  be  killed. 

There  would,  perhaps,  be  some  ground  for  such  a 
conclusion,  were  we  not  elsewhere  informed  that  in 
this  dire  conflict  God  does  not  abandon  his  people  to 
defeat,  but  grants  them  a  complete  victory  over  the 
beast,  his  image,  his  mark,  and  the  nuuiber  of  his 
name.  Rev.  15 :  2.  We  further  read  respecting  this 
earthly  power,  that  he  causeth  all  to  receive  a  mark 
in  thuir  right  hand  or  in  their  foreheads;  yet  chap- 
ter 20 :  4  speaks  of  the  people  of  God  as  those  who 


THE  BEGiNNmo   OF   THE   END.  221 

do  not  receive  the  mark,  nor  worship  the  image.  If, 
then,  he  could  "cause"  all  to  receive  the  mark,  and 
yet  all  not  actually  receive  it,  in  like  manner  his 
causing  all  to  be  put  to  death  who  will  not  worship 
the  image  does  not  necessarily  signify  that  their  lives 
are  actually  to  be  taken. 

But  how  can  this  be  ?  Answer:  It  evidently 
comes  under  that  rule  of  interpretation  in  accord- 
ance with  which  verbs  of  action  sometimes  signify 
merely  the  will  and  endeavor  to  do  the  action  in 
question,  and  not  the  actual  performance  of  the  thing 
specified.  George  Bush,  Professor  of  Hebrew  and 
Oriental  Literature  in  New  York  City  University, 
makes  this  matter  plain.  In  his  notes  on  Ex.  7:  11 
he  says: — 

"  It  is  a  canon  of  interpretation  of  frequent  use  in  the 
exposition  of  the  sacred  writings  that  verbs  of  action 
sometimes  signify  merely  the  will  and  endeavor  to  do  the 
action  in  question.  Thus  in  Eze.  24:  13:  'I  have  j)uri- 
fied  thee,  and  thou  wast  not  purged;'  i.  e.,  I  have  en- 
deavored, used  means,  been  at  pains,  to  purify  thee. 
John  5:44:  'How  can  ye  believe  which  receive  honor 
one  of  another;'  i.  e.,  endeavor  to  receive.  Rom.  2:4: 
'  The  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to  repentance; '  i.  e., 
endeavors,  or  tends,  to  lead  thee.  Amos  9:3:  '  Though 
they  be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea; '  i.  e., 
though  they  aim  to  be  hid.  1  Cor.  10:  33 :  'I  jjlease  all 
men;'  i.  e.,  endeavor  to  please.  Gal.  5:4:  'Whosoever 
of  you  Sive  justified  by  the  law;'  i.  e.,  seek  and  endeavor 
to  be  justified.  Ps.  69:4:  'They  that  destroy  me  are 
mighty;'    i.  e.,   that    endeavor   to    destroy    me.     Eng., 


222  THE  UNITED  STATES   IN  PROPHECY. 

'That  would  destroy  niii.'  Acts  7:26:  'And  set  them 
at  one  again;'  i.  e.,  wished  and  endeavored.  Eng., 
'  Would  have  set  them.'  " 

So  in  the  passage  before  us.  He  causes  all  to  re- 
ceive a  mark,  and  all  who  will  not  worship  the  image 
to  be  killed;  that  is,  he  wills,  purposes,  and  endeav- 
ors to  do  this.  He  makes  such  an  enactment,  passes 
such  a  law,  but  is  not  able  to  execute  it;  for  God  in- 
terposes in  behalf  of  his  people;  and  then  those  who 
have  kept  the  word  of  Christ's  patience  are  kept 
from  falling  in  this  hour  of  temptation,  according  to 
Rev.  8:  10;  then  those  who  have  made  God  their 
refuge  are  kept  from  all  evil,  and  no  plague  comes 
nigh  their  dwelling,  according  to  Ps.  91:  9,  10;  then 
all  who  are  found  written  in  the  book  are  delivered, 
according  to  Dan.  12:  1;  and,  being  victors  over  the 
beast  and  his  image,  they  are  redeemed  from  among 
men,  and  raise  a  song  of  triumph  before  the  throne 
of  God,  according  to  Rev.  14:  4;  15:  2. 

The  objector  may  further  say,  You  are  altogether 
too  credulous  in  supposing  that  all  the  skeptics  of 
our  land,  the  spiritualists,  the  German  infidels,  and 
the  irreligious  masses  generally,  can  be  so  far  brought 
to  favor  the  religious  observance  of  Sunday  that  a 
general  law  can  be  promulgated  in  its  behalf. 

We  answer.  The  prophecy  must  be  fulfilled,  and 
if  the  prophecy  requires  such  a  revolution,  it  will  be 
accomplished.  But  we  do  not  know  that  it  is  neces- 
sary. Permit  the  suggestion  of  an  idea,  which,  though 
it  is  only  conjecture,  may  show  how  enough  can  be 


THE   BEGINNING   OE    THE   END.  22.*^ 

accomplished  to  fulfill  the  prophecy  without  involv- 
inof  the  classes  mentioned.  Tliis  movement,  as  has 
been  shown,  must  originate  with  the  churches  of  our 
land,  and  be  carried  forward  by  them.  They  wish 
to  enforce  certain  practices  upon  all  the  people; 
and  it  would  be  very  natural  that  in  reference  to 
those  points  respecting  which  they  wish  to  influence 
the  outside  masses,  they  should  see  the  necessity  of 
first  having  absolute  conformity  among  all^the  evan- 
gelical denominations.  They  could  not  expect  to 
influence  non-religionists  to  any  great  degree  on 
questions  respecting  which  they  were  divided  among 
themselves.  So,  then,  let  union  be  had  on  those 
views  and  practices  which  the  great  majority  already 
entertain.  To  this  end  coercion  may  first  be  at- 
tempted. But  here  are  a  few  who  cannot  possibly 
attach  to  the  observance  of  the  first  day,  which  the 
majority  wish  to  secure,  any  religious  obligation; 
and  would  it  be  anything  strange  for  the  sentence 
to  be  given.  Let  these  few  factionists  be  made  to 
conform,  by  persuasion  if  possible,  by  force  if  neces- 
sary? Thus  the  blow  may  fall  on  conscientious 
commandment- keepers  before  the  outside  masses  are 
involved  in  the  issue  at  all.  And  should  events  take 
this  not  improbable  turn,  it  would  be  sufficient  to 
meet  the  prophecy,  and  leave  no  ground  for  the  ob- 
jection proposed. 

To  receive  the  mark  of  the  beast  in  the  forehead, 
is,  we  understand,  to  give  the  assent  of  the  mind 
and  judgment  to  his  authority  in  the  adoption  of 
that   institution  which  constitutes   the  mark.     By 


224  THE   UNITED   STATES   IK   PHOPHECY 


parity  of  reasoning,  to  receive  it  in  the  hand  would 
be  to  signify  allegiance  by  some  outward  act. 

The  number,  over  which  the  saints  are  also  to  get 
the  victory,  is  the  number  of  the  papal  beast,  called 
also  the  number  of  his  name,  and  the  number  of  a 
man,  and  said  to  be  six  hundred  threescore  and  six. 
The  pope  wears  upon  his  pontifical  crown  in  jeweled 
letters,  this  title:  "  Vicarius  Filii  Dei,"  "Vicegerent 
of  the  Son  of  God;"  the  numerical  value  of  which 
title  is  just  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  The  most 
plausible  supposition  we  have  ever  seen  on  this  point 
is  that  here  we  find  the  number  in  question.  It  is 
the  number  of  the  beast,  the  papacy;  it  is  the  num- 
ber of  his  name,  for  he  adopts  it  as  his  distinctive 
title;  it  is  the  number  of  a  man,  for  he  who  bears  it 
is  the  "man  of  sin."  We  get  the  victory  over  it  by 
refusing  those  institutions  and  practices  which  he  sets 
forth  as  evidence  of  his  power  to  sit  supreme  in  the 
temple  of  God,  and  by  adopting  which  we  should  ac- 
knowledge the  validity  of  his  title,  by  conceding  his 
light  to  act  for  the  church  in  behalf  of  the  Son  of 
God. 

And  now,  reader,  we  leave  this  subject  with  you. 
We  confidently  submit  the  argument  as  one  which 
is  invulnerable  in  all  its  points.  AVe  ask  you  to  re- 
view it  carefully.  Take  in,  if  thought  can  compre- 
hend it,  the  wonderful  phenomenon  of  our  own  na- 
tion. Consider  its  location,  the  time  of  its  rise,  the 
manner  of  its  rise,  iis  character,  Satan's  masterpiece 
of  lying  wonders  which  he  has  here  sprung  upon  the 
world,  and  the  elements  which  are  everywhere  work- 


THE   BEGINNING   OF    THE    END.  225 

ing  to  fulfill  in  just  as  accurate  a  manner  every 
other  specification  of  the  prophecy.  Can  you  doubt 
the  application?  We  know  not  how.  Then  the 
last  agents  to  appear  in  this  world's  history  are  on 
the  stage  of  action,  the  close  of  this  dispensation  is 
at  hand,  and  the  Lord  cometh  speedily  to  judge  the 
Avorld.  Then  an  issue  of  appalling  magnitude  is  be- 
fore us.  It  is  no  less  than  this:  to  yield  to  unright- 
eous human  enactments,  soon  to  be  made,  and  thus 
expose  ourselves  to  the  unmingled  wrath  of  an  in- 
sulted Creator,  or  to  remain  loyal  to  our  God,  and 
brave  the  utmost  wrath  of  the  dragon  and  his  in- 
furiated hosts. 

In  reference  to  this  issue,  the  third  angel  now 
utters  his  solemn  and  vehement  warning.  To  aid 
in  sounding  over  the  land  this  timely  note  of  alarm, 
to  impress  upon  hearts  the  importance  of  a  right 
position  in  the  coming  issue,  and  the  necessity  of 
pursuing  such  a  course  as  will  secure  the  favor  of  God 
in  the  season  of  earth's  direst  extremity,  and  a  share 
at  last  in  his  glorious  salvation,  is  the  object  of  this 
effort.  And  if  with  any  it  shall  have  this  effect,  the 
prayer  of  the  writer  will  not  be  utterly  unanswered, 
nor  his  labor  be  wholly  lost. 
15 


^^^m^m^:^ 


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All  temperance  people  are  lavish  in  its  praise. 

30  cts. 

Bound  with  Song  Anchor,  muslin,  80  cts. 

Better  than  Pearls.  A  superb  collection  of 
verv  clioice  music  and  words.     Unequaled.    40  cts. 

lii  l.oards.  30  ctS. 

Pearly  Portals.    A  new  book.  35  cts. 

SoD^s  for  Class  and  School.  A  truly  merito- 
rious book.  35  cts. 

Gems  of  Song.  A  vest-pocket  song  book  con- 
taining hvmus  only.  A  choice  collection.  96  pp., 
119  hymns,  bound  in  flexible  cloth.  15  cts. 

The  United  States  in  the  Light  of  Proph- 
ecy; or,  an  exposition  of  Rev.  l.'i :  11-17.  By  Kid. 
V.  Smith.  Dealing  with  our  own  land,  and  apply- 
ing to  our  time.  Of  surpassing  interest  to  every 
American  reader.     New  edition.       225  pp.    75  cts. 

Paiier  covers,  25  ctS. 

The  Advent  Keepsake,  a  collection  of  Bible 
texts  for  each  day  iu  the  year,  on  the  subjects  of  the 
Second  Advent,  the  Resurrection,  etc. 

186  pp.    25  cts. 

Thoughts  on  Baptism;  its  Action,  Subjects, 
and  Relations.     By  Eid.  J.  H.  Waggoner. 

190  pp.    25  cts. 

A  Word  for  the  Sabbath:  or.  False  Theories 
Exposed.  A  poem  by  Kid.  U.  Smith.   60  pp.  30  cts. 

Glazed  paper  covers,  15  ctS. 

Bound  Volumes  of  Review  and  Herald. 
!i=^ch,  $1.25 

Th-  Youth's  Instructor  for  18t9-'80.  Firmly 
bound.  $1.00 


SABBATH-SCHOOL  HELPS. 

Bible  Lessons  for  Little  Ones,  No.  l.    Flexi- 
ble cover.  15  cts. 

Bible  Lessons  for  Little  Ones,  No.  2.    Flexi- 
ble clotii,  with  map.  20  cts. 

Bible  Le  sons  for  Children,  Ko.  3.  25  cts. 

Bible  Lessons,  No.  4.    With  map.  25  cts. 

Eible  Lessons,  No.  5.  25  cts 

Bible  Lessons,  No.  6.  25  cts! 


PAMPHLETS. 

The  Atonement.  By  Eld.  J.  H.  Waggoner.  An 
examination  of  a  remedial  system  iu  the  light  of  Na- 
ture and  Revelation.  168  pp.    25  ctS. 

Our  Faith  and  Hope.  Sermons  on  the  coming 
and  kingdom  of  Clirist.    By  Eld.  James  White. 

182  pp.    25ct«. 

Facts  for  the  Times.  A  volume  of  valuable 
Historical  extracts.  26  ct*. 

25  cts. 
25  cts. 


Testimonies,  Nos.  20-30,  each, 

S.  D.  A.  Year  Book  for  the  year 

Refutation  of  the  Age  to  Come.    By  Eld.  j. 
H.Waggoner.  "  168  pp.    20  cts. 


The  Ministration  of  Angels,  and  the  Ori- 
gin, History,  and  Destiny  of  Satan.  By  u. 
U.  Cauright.  Hi  PP-     20  ctS. 

The  Nature  and  Tendency  of  Modern  Spir- 
itualism.    By  Eld.  J.  H.  Waggoner. 

164  pp.    20  cts. 

The  Visions :  Objections  Answered.  20  cts. 

The  Spirit  of  God,  its  Gifts  and  Manifestations 
to  the  end  of  the  Christian  age.  By  Eld.  J.  H. 
Waggoner.  144  pp.     15  cts. 

The  Three  Messages  of  Rev.  14:6-12.  Par- 
ticularly the  third  augel's  message  and  the  two- 
horned  beast.    By  Eld.  J.  N.  Andrews. 

14^1  pp.    15  cts. 

The  Two  Laws,  as  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  of 

the  Old  and  New  Testaments.     By  I).  M.  Canright. 

128  pp.    15  cts. 

The  Morality  of  the  Sabbath.  By  D.  m  Can- 
right.  96  pp.    15  cts. 

Miraculous  Powers.  The  Scripture  testimony 
ou  the  Perpetuity  of  Spiritual  Gifts. 

128  pp.     15  cts. 

The  Complete  Testimony  of  the  Fathers  of 

the  First  Three  Centuries  Concerning  the  babbath 
and  the  First  Dav  of  the  Week.  By  Eld.  J.  N.  An- 
drews. ■  112  pp.  15  cts. 
Matthew  Twenty-Four,  a  clear  and  forcible 
exposition  of  our  Lord's  discourse  upon  the  Mount  of 
Olives.     By  Eld.  James  AVhite.  64  pp.     10  ctS. 

Matter  and  Spirit.  A  philosophical  argument 
on  an  interesting  theme.    By  D.  JI.  Canright. 

10  cts. 
Bible  Sanctification.    By  Mrs.  E.  G.  White. 

10  cts. 
The  Seven  Trumpets.    An  exposition  of  the 
subject,  as  set  forth  in  Revelation,  chaps.  8  and  9. 

96  pp.     10  cts. 

The  Truth  Found.  The  nature  and  obligation 
of  the  Sabbath.    By  Eld.  J.  H.  Waggoner. 

64  pp.     10  cts. 

Vindication  of  the  True  Sabbath.    By  Eld.  J. 

W.  Morton,  formerly  Missionary  of  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  to  Hayti.  68  pp.    10  ctS. 

Hope  of  the  Gospel.  By  Eld.  J.  N.  Loughbor- 
ough.^ 80  pp.    10  cts. 

Christ  and  the  Sabbath:  or,  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  Sabbath  iu  the  New.  By  Eld, 
James  Wliite.  56  pp.     10  CtS. 

Redeemer  and  Redeemed.  By  Eld.  James 
White.  This  work  sets  forth  the  plan  of  Redemption 
in  its  three  stages.  40  pp,     10  ctS. 

Review  of  Gilfillan:  or.  Thoughts  Suggested 
by  the  Perusal  of  Gilfillan  and  other  Authors  on  the 
Sabbath.  64  pp.     10  ctS. 

Appeal  to  the  Baptists  for  the  Restitution  of 
the  Bible  Sabbath.  46  pp.     10  cts. 

Review  of  Baird.  A  review  of  two  sermons 
against  the  Sabbath  and  Seventh-day  Adventists. 
By  Eld.  J.  n.  Waggoner.  64  pp.     10  ctS. 

The  Rejected  Ordinance.  A  carefully  pre- 
pared paper  on  our  Saviour's  Act  of  Humilitv  in 
John  18.  10  cts. 

The  Position  and  Work  of  the  True  People  of 
God  under  the  Third  Angel's  Message.  By  Eld.  W, 
H.  Littlejohn,  10  ctS. 

Life  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles.    8  books,  pa- 
per covers,  90  ctS. 
The  Saints'  Inheritance.  10  cts. 

The  Ancient  Sabbath.  Forty-four  objections 
considered,  88  pp.    IQ  cts. 

Key  to  the  Prophetic  Chart,    a  vaiuabei 

publication.  6  cts. 


TRACTS. 

5  cents  each.  Our  Faith  and  Hope.  Justifica- 
tion by  Faith,    Miltou  on  the  State  of  the  Dead. 

4  cents  each.  Eedemption.  The  Second  Ad- 
vent. The  Sutterings  of  Christ.  The  Present  Truth, 
Origin  and  Progress  of  S.  D.  Adventists.  Ten  Com- 
mandments not  abolished-  Address  to  the  Baptists. 
The  Two  Thrones,  Spiritualism  a  Satanic  Delusion, 
Samuel  and  the  TTitch  of  Endor.  The  Third  Mes- 
sage of  Ilev.  14.  Scripture  References,  Tithes  and 
Offerings.    Seventh  Part  of  Ti-me. 

3  cents  each.  Second  Message  of  Eev.  14.  End 
of  the  Wicked.  Lost-Time  Question.  Seventh-day 
Adventists  and  Seventh-dav  Baptists.  Signs  of  the 
Times.  ■Who  Changed  the  Sabbath?  The  Spirit  of 
Prophecy.     The  Millennium,     Sabbaton, 

2  cents  each.  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament, 
The  Sabbath  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Old  Moral 
Code  not  Kevised.  The  Sanctuary  of  the  Bible, 
The  Judgment.  Much  in  Little.  The  Two  Laws, 
Seven  Keasons,  The  Definite  Seventh  Day,  De- 
parting and  Being  with  Christ.  The  Rich  Man  and 
Lazarus.  Elihu  on  the  S.abbath.  First  Message  of 
Rev.  14.  The  Law  and  the  Gospel.  God's  Memo- 
rial.   The  Sabbath  Made  for  Man. 

1  cent  each.  The  Coming  of  the  Lord.  Perfec- 
tion of  the  Ten  Commandments.  Without  Excuse, 
Thoughts  for  the  Candid.  Which  Day  and  Why? 
Can  we  Know:  or,  Can  the  Prophecies  be  Under- 
stood? Is  the  End  Near?  Is  Man  Immortal?  The 
Sleep  of  the  Dead.  The  Sinner's  Fate,  The  Law 
of  God.  What  the  Gospel  Abrogated.  One  Hundred 
Bible  Facts  about  the  Sabbath.  Sunday  not  the 
Sabbath.  "The  Christian  Sabbath."  Why  not 
Found  out  Before? 


CHOICE  JUYEI^ILE  BOOKS. 

Sabbath  Readings  for  the  Home  Circle,    in 

four  volumes,  coutaining  moral  and  religious  read- 
ing for  the  household ;  carefully  selected,  and  com- 
piled for  the  use  of  Sabbath-school  and  family  libra- 
ries. No  better  books  for  children  in  the  market. 
Each,  60cts. 

Put  up  in  a  neat  box,       ♦  $2.50 

Sunshine  at  Home.  A  bright,  sparkling  book 
for  the  family  circle,  brimful  of  good  sense,  and  per- 
fectly free  from  "  trash."  112  quarto  pages,  highly 
embellished.  $1.50 

Golden  Grain  Series.  A  choice  collection  of 
instructive  stories  suited  to  the  wants  of  children 
from  eight  to  sixteen  years  and  older,  illustrated 
and  bcautifullv  bound  in  three  volumes. 

The  Hard  W'ay,  160  pp.;  The  School-boy's  Dinner, 
160  pp. :  Grumbling  Tommy,  160  pp.    Each, 

SOcts. 

The  Child's  Poems.  Containing  Little  Will 
and  other  stories,  teaching  beautiful  lessons  of  tem- 
perance and  virtue.  Hound  in  cloth,  anil  riclily  em- 
bossed in  gold  and  black.  128  pp.     25  cts. 

Golden  Grains  in  Ten  Pamphlets.    32  pa  res 

each.  :i2Upp.     60  ctS. 

The  Sunshine  Series.  Stories  for  little  ones, 
in  Tin  Small  Books,  adapted  to  children  from  the 
ages  of  four  to  ten  years. 

In  glazed  paper  covers,  320  pp.     50  cts. 


HEALTH  PUBLICATIONS. 

Plain  Facts  about  Sexual  Life.    A  wise  book, 

treating  on  delicate  topics,  for  all  ages,  married  and 
single.  This  is  a  Christian  book,  highly  commended 
by  the  press  and  clergymen.  408  pp.     $1.50 

Condensed  edition,  Hc.xible  covers,  75  ctS. 

Manual,  of  Health  and  Temperance.    A 

book  brimful  of  intormation  on  a  hundred  us.'lul  top- 
ics.   Thirtv-ilfth  Ihousiind.    Cloth.    244  pp.  75  ctS. 


Digestion  and  Dyspepsia.    By  j,  H,  Kellogg, 

M.  D,  This  work  embodies  the  resultsoftheauthor's 
experience  in  dealing  with  all  forms  of  the  disease, 
in  all  of  its  stages,  and  is  a  thoroughly  practical 
treatise  on  this  prevalent  malady. 

In  cloth,  176  pp.    75  cts. 

Paper  covers,  25  cts. 

"Uses  of  Water  in  Health  and  Disease,  giv- 
ing careful  and  thorough  instruction  respecting  the 
uses  of  water  as  a  preventive  of  disease,  and  as  a 
valuable  remedy. 

In  cloth,  166  pp.    60  cts. 

Paper  covers,  136  pp,    25  cts. 

Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Human  Life. 

By  Sylvester  Graham.  Three  lectures  of  gr(.at 
value  which  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  indi- 
vidual. 174  pp,     30  cts. 

Diphtheria.  A  concise  account  of  the  nature, 
causes,  modes  of  prevention,  and  most  successful 
mode  of  treatment  of  this  now  prevalent  and  fatal 
disease 

Board  covers,  with  4  colored  plates,  64pp.  25  cts. 

Alcoholic  Poison :  or,  the  Physical,  Moral,  and 
Social  Eflects  of  Alcohol  as  a  Beverage  and  as  a 
Medicine.  The  best  compendium  of  the  temperance 
question  published.  Its  statements  are  brief,  con- 
cise, and  to  the  point. 

Paper  covers,  128  pp,     25  cts. 

Evils  of  Fashionable  Dress,  and  How  to  Dress 
Healthfully.  This  little  work  considers  the  subject 
of  fashionable  dress  from  a  medical  standpoint,  and 
thoroughly  exposes  its  evils.  It  does  not  stop  here, 
but  points  out  an  easy  and  acceptable  remedy. 

Euamel  covers,  40  pp,     10  cts. 

Bound  Volumes  of  Health  Reformer,  and 
Good  Health,  These  valuable  volumes  contain 
more  practical  information  of  a  vital  character  than 
any  other  of  their  size.  E.ach  volume  contains  360 
pages  of  reading  matter,  well  bound.  $1.25 

Proper  Diet  for  Man.  A  scientific  discussion 
of  the  question  of  vegetable  versus  animal  food. 
Ultra  notions  are  avoided,  and  the  subjects  treated 
are  handled  with  candor. 

Paper  covers,  15  cts. 

Health  and  Diseases  of  American  Women, 
60  pp.    15  cts. 
The  Hygienic  System,    f  uu  of  good  ^^^^^<'- 


TRACTS. 

8  cents  each,  "^ine  and  the  Bible.  Startling 
Facts  about  Tobacco. 

2  rents  each.  Pork.  The  Drunkard's  Argu- 
ments AuswcTed!  Alcoholic  Medica,tion.  Twenty- 
five  Arguments  on  Tobacco-Using  Briefly  Answered. 

1  rent  each.  Causes  and  Cure  of  Intemperance. 
Moral  aud. Social  Effects  of  Intemperance.  Tobacco- 
t;,ing_Cause  of  Disease.  Tobacco-Poisoning— Nic- 
otiana  Tabacum.  Effects  of  Tea  and  Coffee.  Ten 
Arguments  on  Tea  and  Coffee, 

V  rent  each.  Alcoholic  Poison.  Tobaoco-Uslng 
a  Relic  of  Barbarism.  True  Temperance.  Alcohol, 
What  is  It?     Our  Nation's  Curse. 


OTHER  LANGUAGES. 

The  Association  has  47  different  works  in  Danish- 
Norwegian,  32  in  Swedish,  35  in  German,  la  in 
French,  and  1  in  Holland,  besides  the  regular  peri- 
odicals in  those  tongues  already  noticed. 

CTr'  Full  Catalogues  of  all  our  publications  in  En- 
gliX  and  the  various  Foreign  Languages,  fur- 
nished/ree,  on  application. 

For  anything  in  this  Catalogue  address, 

REVIEW  AND  HERALD, 

Battle  Cree" ,  Mich. 


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Our  country's  future  :  the  United  States 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00071   8249 


